Pew Center Report Ranks Utah Best Managed State in Nation

Mar 03, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Utah is the best managed state in the nation, according to a Pew Center on States report released Monday. The state improved upon last year's ranking as the second best in the nation. The news pleased Legislative Leaders, including Senate President John Valentine, who praised the state's culture of fiscal responsibility.

"We're Number One, and the reason why we're number one is that the Legislature and the Executive branch of the state have really spent a lot of time, trying to operate this in a prudent and responsible fashion," Valentine says.

Utah received the only "A" grade in the nation for money management. The report states that Utah is managed with "savvy business acumen." The Pew Center on States also acknowledged Utah for its performance management of state agencies - a nod toward the state's Web site, performance.utah.gov. However, there is at least one area where the state can improve, President Valentine contends, strategic workforce planning and hiring.

"Productivity in state government is always difficult to measure," Valentine says. "It is the one area we still have to work on. You notice we only received a B-plus in those areas on the report. That's good - but still not good enough."

The state got an overall grade of A-minus, a ranking it shares with Virginia and Washington. The worst ranking on the list, a D-minus, went to Delaware. Click here for the full Pew Center on States, "Grading the States 2008," report.

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