Gov. announces top budget cut idea from citizens

By MATT GOURAS Associated Press Writer

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The governor said Thursday that the public's top pick for saving money in government calls for the state to delay purchases of new computers, a plan that will be implemented along with other proposals received during the contest.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer said the winning idea will put the state on a five-year computer replacement cycle, instead of replacing them every four years. He said it would save Montana about $400,000 a year.

The state has about 14,000 computers.

The plan was among the final four ideas that were put up for an Internet vote, but Schweitzer said the state will also implement the other ideas received from the public.

The suggestion came from a state technology employee, Jerry Kozak of Helena, who will receive a palladium coin worth about $500 that was donated by the Stillwater Mine. Kozak said he planned to keep the coin.

Kozak said most computers today are powerful enough to keep up with technology improvements in applications for a longer period of time. He added that most employees don't tax the computing strength of a modern PC.

"Depending on what work you do or what the need is, there is always some leeway," Kozak said.

The winning idea received 545 votes on the website set up for the contest, which started with hundreds of public submissions that were eventually pared down to four by a panel.

Second place was a plan to reduce the number of state cell phones and other wireless devices.

Schweitzer suggested the state could ask employees to use their personal cell phones, allowing the state to reimburse them a small portion for work use. The governor pointed out that he does not have a state cell phone, and that he uses his personal phone instead.

Schweitzer said his favorite among the finalists was a suggestion to reduce the size of the state motor pool, a proposal that finished third in the vote.

The governor said that move will start next month with an auction of vehicles and could eventually save millions.

Schweitzer said the state could run short of vehicles on peak usage days. On those rare occasions, employees could be reimbursed for using their own personal cars or for renting a car, he said.

Fourth place went to a suggestion to conserve energy at the state data center by using servers more efficiently.

Schweitzer said many more ideas from the long list of suggestions will be implemented as well, such as a plan to reduce the number of laptop computers in state government by pooling one device across a larger number of employees.

"I think these are commonsense ideas," Schweitzer said.

The governor said the responses largely were serious proposals and not "snarky" attacks on him or other individuals. One person, however, suggested replacing toilet paper in the governor's office with corn cobs.

"We had very little of that," Schweitzer said. "These were serious Montanans, in serious times, with serious ideas."