Press Release  In Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Testimony, Auditor Bump Touts Impact of Her Office’s Work

Boston — State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump testified today before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means in support of her Fiscal Year 2020 budget request. During her testimony, she highlighted her agency’s budget priorities for the coming year, as well as ways her office, over the past twelve months, has made government work better for the residents of the Commonwealth.

“The core mission of my office is to make government work better. It is a mission we take seriously and one that is ingrained in every aspect of our work,” Bump said during her testimony. “Through our work, we seek to not only find instances in which government agencies and contractors have fallen short of their responsibilities to the taxpayers of the Commonwealth but just as importantly, find opportunities and solutions that allow agencies to serve their constituents better.”

In her testimony, Bump highlighted the impact of her office’s work over the past year that has led to greater accountability throughout state government. These results included:

• The Department of Conservation and Recreation hiring a debt collection agency to collect past due and unpaid user fees;
• The Department of Children and Families reporting it is using the MassHealth database to ensure that social workers are aware of all medical treatments sought by children;
• The Executive Office of Elder Affairs enhancing its oversight of incidents of elder abuse or neglect so that they are then appropriately investigated;
• District attorneys improving data collection and analysis of juvenile diversion programs to better assess the success of these programs and guide future enhancements; and
• Cities and towns being reimbursed over $1 million to cover the cost of mandated early voting expenses for the 2018 election.

For Fiscal Year 2020, Bump is seeking a five percent increase in the agency’s administrative funding and a three percent increase that would support the Division of Local Mandates, the Bureau of Special Investigations and its Data Analytics Unit, and the Medicaid Audit Unit. Overall, this would result in an $892,000 increase over last year’s appropriation level, for a total of $20,071,371.

Bump's full testimony is available here.

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