COLUMBIA--Gov. Mark Sanford's commission on state reform suggested Tuesday that South Carolina's government must be streamlined like a business and made more accountable to better serve residents.

"State government is, in many senses, broken, and is in need of repair," the Commission on Management, Accountability and Performance said in a report submitted to Sanford. "State government needs to be seriously overhauled in order to maximize efficiency and worker productivity."

Ken Wingate, chairman of the panel and a former gubernatorial candidate, said the state "suffers from agency gridlock" with some 55 independent agencies, boards and commissions, besides its 13 separate Cabinet agencies. This fragmentation of South Carolina government has led to redundancies that are wasteful and unnecessary, he said.

He said the panel found enough such practices that could be eliminated, changed or consolidated to save $250 million in the first year and more than $300 million a year down the road -- good news as the state struggles with tough economic times and budget deficits.

For example, Wingate said his panel found 74 separate accounting systems. He said the commission also discovered the state has 8,000 buildings but they are not overseen by a common authority.

Sanford, who said he'd not yet read the report, pledged to work with legislators and commission members on laws or executive actions that could bring the new ideas to fruition.

Sanford created the commission in June to study government accountability and performance and to cut waste. The panel was composed of 12 business leaders from across the state who paid their own costs to serve, Wingate said.

Sanford had pushed reform plans to eliminate elections for most constitutional officers, putting their responsibilities and powers under the governor's office.

In its report, the panel acknowledged it was divided on the extent to which the number of top government posts should be elected vs. appointed. It called for restructuring the executive branch by reducing elected offices from nine to six. That would end election of the state education superintendent and adjutant general and eliminate the office of Secretary of State, moving those duties to the Department of Revenue.