Governor proposes more government consoldation

Governor Tom Vilsack’s proposing more state government consolidation, suggesting that several state agencies be combined under one umbrella. The Departments of Personnel, Information Technology, General Services and the Iowa Communications Network, plus some of the accounting functions in the Department of Revenue and Finance would all become one agency. It’d be called the Department of Asset Management. Vilsack spokesman Joe Shannahan says it’ll save a chunk of change.Shannahan estimates over three million dollars would be saved by streamlining management and firing administrators. So, just who would lose their job?Shannahan says Vilsack hasn’t made those sorts of decisions yet. This is the fourth government streamlining announcement from Vilsack.Vilsack wants the Department of Management — the budget-oversight agency — to eventually be folded into the new “Asset Management” department.