Topeka ? A year after her election, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius talks matter-of-factly about the changes she hopes to see and the smaller, more efficient state government she expects to create.

Her ideas include all-purpose offices for residents staffed by cross-trained workers who can handle social service applications and fishing licenses. Also on her list are changes in the civil service system that give managers more flexibility in trimming their staffs.

Sebelius also doesn’t talk about a second term. Her plans call for leaving her mark on state government in only one.

During an interview with The Associated Press, the Democratic governor said the big tasks of the year after her election were reassuring Kansans the state could handle its financial problems, stabilizing the budget and having Kansans discuss the issues facing their state. Now, she suggested, the future beckons.

“This state government is going to look very different at the end of four years than it did the day I walked in the door,” she said.

Challenges

When Sebelius took office Jan. 13, the state faced serious financial problems because of the slump in the national economy after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But Sebelius and legislators balanced the state’s $10.2 billion budget without a general tax increase, though they faced criticism for relying on one-time accounting gimmicks, imposing limited fee increases and forcing local governments to consider raising property taxes or cutting services.

Sebelius’ postelection year inspired varied reactions among Republicans, who hold large majorities in both legislative houses.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, center, talks with Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Thursday at the 34th annual Meeting of the Midwestern Governors Conference in St. Louis. A year after her election, Sebelius is still promising to make state government more efficient.

Some, like House Appropriations Committee Chairman Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, give Sebelius credit for being willing to pursue efficiencies.

Others, like Sen. Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, see more talk than action and wonder whether she squandered her postelection honeymoon on summits and public conversations.

Some GOP legislators bristle at Sebelius’ claim that the government review teams she appointed have identified $76 million in savings and efficiencies. For example, they note that $40.5 million can be attributed to increased revenues from a tax amnesty program and argue that that program hardly represents an example of government change.

Sebelius was quick in her reply: “Well, baloney!”

“We had hundreds of millions of dollars of taxes on the books — forever,” she said of the taxes targeted by the amnesty program. “You know, they’d just be carried from year to year, and there would be ongoing negotiations between somebody’s lawyer and somebody at (the Department of) Revenue, and they’d be back and forth. And we just said, ‘That’s not going to happen any more.'”

Cleaner, leaner government

Furthermore, she said, arguing about the numbers misses the point of how her ongoing review is supposed to affect state government.

“It’s going to be cleaner; it’s going to be more transparent; it’s going to be leaner,” she said. “It’s going to be easier to access, and we are going to become focused on customer service in a way that really hasn’t happened.”

One initiative that seems in keeping with Sebelius’ statements is an ongoing reorganization at the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. The agency plans to close 63 of its 105 county offices by July 1, 2005, and offer information and assistance at 300 places such as libraries, local health departments and senior centers.

It was an effort started under Sebelius’ predecessor, Gov. Bill Graves, and Sebelius sees it as a starting point.

“If there is an office in Great Bend, why shouldn’t Transportation, Wildlife and Parks, anybody else who has an outpost, be in that same office?” she said. “Why do we have four different sets of computer lines into three surrounding counties and 16 different phone numbers and five different e-mails?”

She added: “If you are sitting somewhere in Kansas and want service, wouldn’t it be a lot easier to go one place, call one phone number, have somebody who is cross-trained, who could say, ‘Here’s how you get your fishing license, and here’s the form you need for SRS,’ sharing resources, not only physical, but human, resources.”

Sebelius said she envisioned a smaller, better-trained state work force, one in which groups of workers could move from agency to agency as their skills were needed.