Press Release  Auditor Bump Highlights Office Accomplishments, Calls for Greater Inter-Agency Collaboration in Government

Boston — Auditor Suzanne M. Bump today testified before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means in support of her agency’s Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) budget request. During her testimony, she highlighted recent work from her office that has led to action from state lawmakers and government leaders. In addition, she also called on the legislature to fund areas in which her office’s work has shown significant need.

“During the past 7 years, we have evolved substantially. Increasingly in our audits and reports we have been identifying systemic challenges and using these audits and reports to provide you with potential solutions to assist programs in becoming more efficient and effective,” Bump told the committee. “You have spent countless hours molding these programs through legislative deliberations and carefully allocated resources. Our work is designed to give you insight into whether these programs are working as you intended.”

During her testimony, Bump noted that much of her office’s work in recent months has highlighted the need for greater inter-agency collaboration and data-sharing to improve government performance. She noted that an audit of the Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS) showed that better data-sharing could lead to significant improvements in outreach to veterans about benefits for which they may qualify. She noted similar opportunities for proactively using data to help the agencies meet their missions were found in audits of the Sex Offender Registry Board and the Department of Children and Families.

Finally, in addition to advocating for her agency’s budget, Bump encouraged the legislature to take action on areas that her office’s work identified need greater financial support from the state. Citing her office’s recently completed certification of municipal costs to provide early voting in 2016, Bump called on the legislature to provide reimbursements to communities for these certified costs and fund the estimated expenses in 2018. She also asked the legislature to take steps to lessen the burden of transportation costs on regional school districts and schools providing services to homeless students. Finally, she encouraged the committee to allocate additional funding to assist municipalities in adapting their water infrastructure to meet the demands of climate change.

Auditor Bump's full testimony is available here.

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