Former Missouri lieutenant governor Peter Kinder has directed more than $500,000 in cuts in administrative expenses of the federal Delta Regional Authority since being appointed to head up the agency two months ago.

Kinder, whose official title is alternate federal co-chairman, said he was “horrified” after assuming the leadership post to find 8.6 percent of the agency’s $30 million budget was being spent on administrative costs.

Kinder said a well-run agency should limit administrative expenses to 5 percent or 6 percent of its budget.

He said he doesn’t want the federal agency to operate with a “bloated administrative budget.”

Kinder said he challenged his staff to find ways to cut costs.

Initial cuts of $430,000 reduced administrative expenses to 7.3 percent of the budget, he said. Since then, the cuts have topped the half-million-dollar mark, according to Kinder.

“I think we should be able to do substantially more than that,” said Kinder, who has instructed his staff to continue looking for ways to trim administrative costs.

A major part of the savings has come from the voluntary retirement of two employees, according to Kinder. Another staff member also is planning to leave, he said.

Eliminating those salaries and benefits and associated vehicle expenses results in savings that “add up substantially,” he said.

The federal agency now has 18 staff members, including staff at the headquarters in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Washington, D.C., Kinder said.

The Delta Regional Authority is a federal/state partnership designed to stimulate economic development in the Mississippi River delta region and improve the lives of nearly 10 million residents in parts of eight states, including Southeast Missouri. The agency distributes millions of dollars in federal grants.

Kinder said cutting administrative costs will allow more of the federal money to go to needy communities in the region.

“There are towns like that all up and down the lower Mississippi River Valley,” he added.

In his leadership role, Kinder said he has traveled around the region in an agency-provided Ford Explorer.

He said he is not spending money on charter flights or taking several staff members with him on his trips.

Kinder said the governors of Alabama and Mississippi are friends of his and supportive of the effort to cut administrative costs.

“They have called to encourage me,” he said.

President Donald Trump appointed Kinder in August. Kinder was sworn into office in early September by U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. in an outside ceremony near the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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