Attorney General Returns
$1 Million to Wisconsin Taxpayers

By J.V. Van Hollen
Attorney General, State of Wisconsin

I promised Wisconsin residents that I would “Fight Crime and Restore Integrity” when I became Attorney General. Fiscal integrity is an important commitment that I have made to the taxpayers of Wisconsin and I have spent the past 18 months reviewing expenditures and finding ways to create efficiencies at the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Earlier this year, I announced that I was giving $600,000 in taxpayer money back to the state. At that time, I also announced that I was going to continue looking for an additional $400,000 to return during my first fiscal year as Attorney General, which ended June 30. I’m pleased to report that I was able to meet my promise to the taxpayers of Wisconsin and have returned $1 million.

Most of these savings are the result of finding efficiencies throughout the Department of Justice. For example, new staff at the Madison Crime Lab worked in temporary space while they were in training, which resulted in rent savings. At the same time, experienced DNA analysts saw their productivity increase dramatically, to the point where we completed work on more DNA cases in the first five months of 2008 than were done in any single year before I took office.

I also reduced overtime expenditures to both save money and enhance employee wellness. Positions, including management positions, were left vacant longer to achieve savings so long as the extended temporary vacancy was not going to be pennywise and pound foolish. Funds that were designated for an unplanned and unnecessary staff conference were returned. Some of the funds returned were through legal settlements. I have used these funds to support my core initiatives and public safety operations, such as internet crimes against children education and keeping our methamphetamine task force a model despite federal budget cuts. But because of the budget shortfall being faced by the State of Wisconsin, I determined that some of those funds should be returned to the treasury so that government wouldn’t seek it from taxpayers.

Achieving savings isn’t simply about spending only what you have. It is about returning what you have but can do without. This might be a radical concept, but to me, it is fundamental management. Making more out of less is what people want out of their government, and that is what I am delivering as Attorney General.

Wisconsin Department of Justice staff have been instrumental in these efforts. I could not have achieved this goal for taxpayers of Wisconsin without their help. Department of Justice staff continues to fight crime and enforce the law, doing more with less.

Public safety protects our freedoms and enhances our quality of life. I believe public safety is the top priority of state and local government, and that priority should be reflected in how taxpayer money is spent. This includes adequate funding for the Department of Justice, state prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and others who directly enhance public safety everyday. Budget shortfalls are not an excuse to underfund budget priorities, but rather an opportunity to reexamine what it is we believe that government should do and spend limited resources accordingly. Though I believe public safety must be a budget priority, it does not absolve public safety officials from spending that money wisely and achieving savings where possible.

Fight crime. Restore integrity. Not just a slogan, but a plan for action that helps make Wisconsin a safer more fiscally solvent place to live, work and retire.