Backlogs of work pile up as state budgets shrink

An increase in demand for services during rough economic times is creating a backlog of work for many state agencies, where budget cuts have decreased their ability to keep up, Stateline's Melissa Maynard reports. Her investigation discovered budgets for agencies like public housing, crime labs, restaurant inspectors and court systems have been squeezed by four years of layoffs, furloughs, hiring freezes and unfilled vacancies. Most of the government services affected are necessary to the lives of rural Americans. Some of the most severe backlogs are in Hawaii, Georgia, California, Texas, Michigan, Arizona and Iowa.

At best, taxpayers will be waiting longer for marriage licenses or birth certificates; at worst, these backlogs take a toll on at-risk children, the elderly, the disabled and investigations about abuse and neglect. Maynard reports the most severe backlogs are the result of "chronic underfunding and mismanagement, sloppy hiring and training practices, obsolete technology and data management systems, and low morale tied to crushing caseloads." Bureaucratic processes make the situation worse, and once the backlogs exist they are difficult to eliminate.

Overloaded agencies try to handle backlogs by prioritizing work. "If there’s not enough manpower to handle every case, the thinking goes, better to focus first on the ones that cost the most or leave vulnerable people at the greatest risk. The cases that would appear most scandalous if they hit the evening news," Maynard reports. However, this leads less severe cases waiting in the wings, and they don't go away, making them harder to resolve the longer they wait. Also, backlogs in one section of government contribute to backlogs in others, Maynard reports.