Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Feb. 5 signed an executive order establishing the Governor's Office of Transformation, Innovation, Management and Efficiency while directing state agencies to immediately generate $150 million in cost savings as the state stares at a $2.3 billion deficit for fiscal 2016.
The new agency will replace the Office of Innovation, Wolf told reporters at an afternoon state capitol news conference in Harrisburg.
"There are a lot of things we can do to make government work better," Wolf said. "We're not about cutting. It's what I did in the private sector. We didn't do it by cutting. We did it by making things better."
Wolf, the former chief of his namesake building supplies company in York, Pa., took office in January. He also served as state revenue director under Gov. Ed Rendell from 2007-2008.
In addition to its deficit, Pennsylvania has a $50 billion unfunded pension liability. All three major bond rating agencies downgraded the Keystone State last year, citing the pension problem and structural imbalance.
Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's rate Pennsylvania's general obligation bonds AA-minus. Moody's rates them Aa3.
