State Treasurer Kennedy – I Don’t Know How UL Keeps The Lights On

Today on 'Mornings with Ken and Bernie' Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy joined us and claimed the state could save millions of dollars by doing away with thousands of consulting contracts.

When we asked if we could help state colleges and universities Kennedy said,

Yes, I don't see how UL (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) keeps the lights on.  If you look at what's been done.  In 2008 we were spending $1.6 billion out of our general fund on our colleges.  Today we're spending $525 million.  That's over a billion dollar drop.  That's a 70% reduction.  They can't continue at this rate.

According to Kennedy,

They need money.  We've got the money.  The current budget is $25 billion.  When governor Blanco was Governor the budget was $19 billion.  When Governor Foster was Governor the budget was $12 billion. We're spending an enormous amount of that $25 billion, about $5.3 billion on consultants.  We've got 19,000 of them.  We don't need all of them.

We asked Kennedy would could be done about the wasteful spending on consultants and he said,

Representative Dee Richard and I are introducing a bill to reduce our spending on consultants by just 10%.  A very modest 10% that will generate $528 million every year.  Over half a billion a year.  We're not telling the agencies which consultants to get rid of.  It's up to them.

To hear the entire interview with Treasurer John Kennedy click on the blue arrow below: