In an annual assessment, the Commonwealth is at the top of its class. The Government Performance Project, which evaluated each state government in the United States, gave the Commonwealth of Virginia an overall grade of A-, tying with Utah for the highest mark.
Governing Magazine published the Government Performance Project's report in its February issue.
"It's a gold star for Governor Warner, but much more importantly, it's a gold star for Virginia and a whole series of governors and legislatures," Politics Prof. Larry Sabato said.
In order to grade each state's government, the group formed a team of journalists from Governing Magazine as well as professionals from colleges such as Georgia State, George Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania.
According to the report, the evaluation criteria were divided into four categories: money, information, infrastructure and people. The money category focused on elements such as budgeting processes and balance structure. Information covered the topics of strategic planning, management and program evaluations. Capital planning and project monitoring fell under the infrastructure category. The people category dealt with issues such as hiring, training and retaining employees.
The reported stated that the Commonwealth received an A in the money category and an A minus for the other three areas. The lowest-scoring states were California and Alabama with overall grades of C minus.
Warner spokesperson Ellen Qualls said she credits the Commonwealth's success in the monetary category with its recent tax reform as well as the development of a mandatory six-year budget and revenue projection. The six-year projection "shows not only the revenues the state expects to bring in, but also what the mandated spending will be," Qualls said. "As school enrollments grow and health care costs go up, we have a picture of what those expenses are going to be several years out" from now.
Sabato said this is not the first time the Commonwealth's government scored well on a performance ranking.
"It's good news because what the report really says is that good financial management is an ingrained habit in Virginia and it extends over time through many administrations," he said.
Sabato said the report may support Virginia's one-term restriction on governors.
"Interestingly, this report may argue against changing this restriction because we do seem to maintain fiscal competence even with the one term restriction," Sabato said.
Qualls said since the governor only serves one term, there are more people involved in the Commonwealth's government to share the credit for its success.
The Government Performance Project report emphasized that the focus of the assessment was not the grades themselves, but rather "to give states information they can use to improve management and achieve their goals."
Qualls said the report offers a positive reinforcement to the Commonwealth's government.
"I think it sends a good message to people who want to do business in Virginia and to tax payers that we're spending our money wisely," Qualls said.
Read More
Will the Faculty Senate’s no-confidence vote impact the U.Va. Board of Visitors?
By Brandon Kile | 1 hours agoIn many cases, a no-confidence vote may soon be followed by steps taken to remove the leadership that may be acting against the wishes of a community.
Two senior U.Va. Health leaders quietly take new jobs without formal announcement
By Ford McCracken | YesterdayKibbe’s departure marks the end of an ongoing battle between U.Va. Health employees and their senior leadership.
Letter from 12 deans to Board of Visitors goes unanswered for almost two weeks
By Naima Sawaya | YesterdayAt the time of publication, the academic deans had received no response from the Board regarding their offer to meet with the Board “as soon as possible.”
