Rebecca
M. Wyke—
Commissioner of D A F
S, balances the budget year after year
by Ramona du
Houx
Rebecca M.
Wyke, the commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS),
balances the state budget year after year.
Holding the
line on taxes has made the state stronger fiscally and more attractive to businesses
searching for places to locate. When any governor sets his priorities for state workers to
follow, there are always dramatic challenges that need to be met.
Rebecca Wyke is
the miracle worker who turned around the $1.2 billion shortfall into a $149 million Rainy
Day Fund, working with Governor Baldacci. Because of her dedication to implementing the
governor’s policies, Maine has had the lowest growth rate of expenditures of any
Maine state government in the last 30 years, making the state better suited for the
future.
"Our goal
is to help government to run efficiently and properly," said Commissioner Wyke.
Her role
encompasses overseeing nine bureaus and over 1,400 employees serving the Executive,
Legislative, and Judicial branches, all State agencies, and the general public.
"The vast
majority of my time is spent on developing budgets and managing budgets," said the
commissioner. "In the first six months [with Governor Baldacci] we had a big charge,
having to balance that $1.2 billion budget. We also put the first state-spending cap in
place, that was later modified further by LD 1 and made a little bit tighter. The governor
was also committed to ensuring that state dollars were expended in a way that meant that
citizens were getting the most value for their tax dollars."
Wyke
coordinates a number of central services for departments within Maine State Government by
working in partnership with other state agencies. The bureaus she oversees are: The Maine
Revenue Service, which collects the majority of revenues in the state; the state budget
office, and the comptroller’s office, which ensures accountability of state
government; the Bureau of Human Resources, which manages all of the state’s hiring of
personnel and gives training courses for staff; the state’s Bureau of Employee
Relations, which engages in collective bargaining with unions, or, if an employee is
involved in some wrong doing, represents the state in those cases; the Bureau of General
Services (BGS), which manages state buildings, including the repairs, maintenance, and
renovations. BGS also buys and sells properties, constructs buildings with environmentally
friendly standards, maintains the grounds, takes care of equipment and rental properties
and the state’s fleet of motor vehicle, as well as other administrative services. In
addition, DAFS is responsible for managing the State Lottery and the wholesale liquor
business in Maine.
In short,
Commissioner Wyke helps the core of state government to function efficiently and
effectively, providing quality services to Maine citizens.
In the first
six months after the governor was sworn in, Wyke completely reorganized the state
comptroller’s office. "It was an antiquated paper-pushing function, which did
payroll and things along that line. We reorganized the staff and found jobs through
attrition for the folks that were not needed in that capacity and hired trained
professionals, certified public accountants, certified auditors, to strengthen the
state’s ability to oversee the finances of state government and improve the
accountability of funds," said Wyke. "That was the groundwork that was laid. It
allowed us to grapple with all the issues from the past that have turned up from the
Department of Health and Human Services in terms of the accountancy issues; on a number of
occasions we sent the personnel at the office of the comptroller to help the [DHHS] staff,
and participated in the hiring and reorganization of that staff."
Wyke previously
held several positions with the Department of the Secretary of State, most recently
serving eight years as the chief deputy secretary of state. Prior to her state service,
Wyke held a management position with Simoneau & Norton, certified public accountants.
Wyke has two children and was happily married to the honorable Joseph W. Mayo who is
remembered in the highest esteem by people in Maine for his tireless, dedicated service to
the state.
"We
created service centers as part of the governor’s efficiency measures, which combined
information technology (IT) sectors from different departments. Prior to that every
department had their own IT managers and staff. By consolidating those operations we were
able to save, over this biennium, about $11 million," said Wyke.
Take the
state’s natural resource agencies — they now have one common service center
which saves money and helps eliminate work being duplicated.
Consolidation
of services in any business makes practical sense. Wyke has brought a needed business
sense and stability to state government. In business the customer demands good service
— a service they can rely upon. These principles are now part of state government.
Although it will take time for all these changes to take root, the seeds are sown and will
be carefully monitored by Wyke and her staff.
"Ultimately,
we were hoping to create career ladders for employees, so we could attract and retain good
employees as we enter an era of a lot more competition from the private sector for
qualified staff in those areas," said the commissioner. "It was also a means to
ensure common training across the board — to try and improve state government across
the board. In the end we are trying to put our best people where we need them, like any
enterprise or business would."
Consolidation
continues to be the key to running state government efficiently and is being encouraged by
DAFS with the help of the grants. DAFS grants encourage innovative, collaborative efforts
that result in property tax savings, efficiencies, or improved delivery of government
services.
"These grant funds are
intended to encourage and support cooperation across and along all lines of government and
to foster relationships that will allow collaborations that benefit not only the
participating governmental units, but also the citizens of Maine," said Wyke.
The grant
program also seeks to develop projects from which other Maine communities may learn and
follow, as well as to explore innovative projects and partnerships that will serve models
for the future.
This grant fund
was implemented as part of the 2005 Property Tax Reduction Law, LD 1, to encourage and
support intergovernmental cooperation, as a means of reducing property taxes. In 2006 the
largest award, of $152,916, was given to a Lewiston/Auburn proposal to consolidate
municipal administrative services and explore consolidation of other city operations.
In 2005,
$1,000,000 in grant funds was distributed to 26 projects across the state involving over
121 municipalities. A wide range of projects was funded, from the consolidation of
dispatch centers to the development of a municipal services group to provide shared staff
among municipalities, including code enforcement, assessing, planning, engineering, and
purchasing.
Commissioner
Wyke deserves praise for being able to tackle a shortfall of over a billion dollars in a
small state that doesn’t have access to a lot of funding. She stood by the
governor’s directives and has been able to devise solutions year after year that
balance the budget while ensuring Maine citizens remain safe and secure.
"This
governor came in with several ideas that he wanted to see happen, that fell on this
department to implement. With a $1.2 billion shortfall — the governor was very
committed to ensuring that state government didn’t end up there again. Because of
rather sever cuts that had to be made and the choices that had to be made at that time, he
wanted to build an infrastructure that would improve upon that process," said Wyke.
"He felt there should be a cap on spending on state government that would instill
some discipline on government spending — so that government spending didn’t grow
at a rate that was faster than Maine people’s income grew at."
That cap was
achieved and more.
"We
devised a formula where we would set aside reserves and buy down our long-term liabilities
with the money that came in that was above what was appropriated by the Legislature,"
said the commissioner. "We constructed the state’s ‘cascade’ to tuck
money away for the future when we needed it, to improve our reserve situation, because the
state had zero reserves when the governor came into office, and we looked at how to buy
down our long-term liabilities."
"The
spending cap, combined with the way we designated reserves, allowed us to rebuild the
reserves to within $5 million of their highest level ever — from $0 to $149 million.
And we have made progress above and beyond our long-term liabilities for the state’s
pension plans for teachers and state employees," said the commissioner.
Viewing where
state government was financially four years ago to where it is today, because of the
commissioner’s creative, diligent work, the next four years should see a progression
on the efforts implemented and property tax relief, as the governor has prescribed.
"If we hadn’t laid
that groundwork in the first six months, we would not be able to be where we are today.
There is a lot more work to be done, and more challenges ahead, but from that perspective
we feel pretty well positioned," concluded Wyke. |
