To the editor:

The GAO just released a comprehensive report on waste and redundancy in the federal government, highlighting numerous overlapping programs and agencies that spend billions of taxpayer dollars with little or no oversight. The numbers are staggering and cover the entire scope of the federal government’s reach.

A recent survey reviewed federal programs alphabetically and counted 4,700 programs before it even got to the middle of the alphabet. Our elected officials should begin immediately to reduce the unnecessary waste of our resources.

Perhaps we should put the same fire under our other elected officials. Have the folks in Topeka, City Hall, at the school district offices, and in county government assured themselves and us that their use of tax dollars is as efficient and effective as is possible?

At a time when many of us taxpayers are juggling expenses to pay for the ever-increasing price of gasoline and the food we buy, our locally elected officials should be making sure that the dollars we sent them are being put to the best use and not just paying lip service to the idea of fiscal responsibility. For example: Do the high salaries and bonuses of the Kansas Bioscience Authority reflect the actual progress and accomplishments of that agency? Or is this an example of lax oversight and an agency that is responsible unto to itself?

Every taxpayer should demand that our government agencies actually work as though they had to justify every dollar spent.