LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – In a letter sent to the State Legislature’s Performance Audit Committee Monday morning, State Auditor Mike Foley expressed his concerns about the state’s spending when it comes to leasing office spaces for their employees unable to fit in state-owned buildings.
“We found that 1.5 Million square feet of state office space is actually commercial office space,” Foley said. “It’s being rented. The cost of that space, just over the past five years, has climbed from $16 million a year to $22 million a year.”
That is a 37% increase in spending in that time period. It’s a jump he calls “intolerable” and a statistic he says needs to lead to a change for the greater good of the taxpayers.
“As a short term fix it seems to have worked,” Foley said. “But long-term, we recognize that these agencies are not going to go away, they’re going to need space. We need to start looking at what we can buy on the open market, when the market might be good, and see if we can’t get a better bang for our buck for our taxpayers.”
Much of Foley’s concerns were addressed in a response from the Department of Administrative Services, which 10/11 obtained a copy of from the department.
In that response they acknowledge Foley’s findings while citing expenses for new DMV centers and temporary spaces needed due to capital construction as partial reasons for the spending increase.
They added that Foley’s idea of purchasing rather than renting is often their goal, and department employees are always eyeing possible offices for sale. Currently, they say they are even looking at some here in Lincoln.
Nebraska lawmakers now have around a month to balance the state’s budget before the current legislative session ends. That budget was still facing a more than $200 million deficit as of the end of last week.
“These are the kinds of efficiencies we should be looking for,” Foley said. “To streamline government and make it a better oiled machine so it doesn’t cost the taxpayers so much money.”
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