Gov. Mark Sanford’s anti-waste commission says the governor’s power to run state government should be vastly increased and the popular TERI retirement program for state employees should be eliminated.

In a 198-page report released Tuesday, the Governor’s Commission on Management, Accountability and Performance recommends more than 200 changes to state government it says could save the state $300 million a year.

Sanford created the commission to study making government more efficient and cost-effective. Nearly 300 state employees and 12 commissioners spent four months studying the way the government operates.

“This has been a sobering look at our beloved Palmetto State,” said commission chairman Ken Wingate.

The commission found many positive aspects of state government, he said, especially state employees, whom he called “hard-working public servants.”

But “the darker side, the less fortunate side” reflects the redundancies and fragmentation of state government, Wingate said. For example, there are 74 different accounting systems used by state government, and they “don’t communicate with each other.”

The commission’s recommendations are not binding on anyone and most require action by the General Assembly. Some of the proposals would require constitutional amendments that would have to be approved by voters.

Sanford said Tuesday he had not yet read the report but would consider it “part of an ongoing, four-year dialogue.”

“The hard part,” he said, “is implementing any of this.”

Sanford has long advocated increasing the governor’s power to administer state government. Current law gives the governor direct oversight over some agencies, while others answer to boards and commissions appointed by the General Assembly.

Among its recommendations, the commission proposes:

• ; Allowing the governor to appoint the secretary of state, adjutant general and state education superintendent. All three are now elected by voters.

• ; Making the departments of Mental Health and of Health and Environmental Control answerable directly to the governor

Mental Health and DHEC are now controlled by boards. All the state health and social service agencies would be overseen by a single person who would serve in the governor’s Cabinet.

• ; Creating a similar “cluster” agency to oversee public safety agencies, including the State Law Enforcement Division and the Department of Natural Resources

• ; Establishing a Department of Administration, under the governor’s office, that would centralize operations of state government in one place. Many of the functions of the State Budget and Control Board would be transferred to this department.

Consolidating power under the governor would be difficult, Sanford said. Lawmakers often closely guard their ability to direct and control state government, and persuading them to give up that power would take work.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, is “sure there are some areas we can make some improvements,” but he hasn’t seen the report and couldn’t speak to specifics.

Much of what the report suggests is already part of legislation pending in the General Assembly. Wilkins himself is sponsoring a bill to create the Department of Administration, and legislation exists that would eliminate the constitutional offices.

But those bills face an uncertain future, particularly in the Senate, where one member can often kill legislation.

State Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg, for example, has publicly vowed never to make the adjutant general an appointed, rather than elected, office.

College of Charleston political scientist Bill Moore said he expects “incremental change” in the balance of power in state government, “but I don’t think you’ll see dramatic change.”

Moore doubts lawmakers would marginalize themselves.

“The Legislature would be reluctant to wholesale surrender authority to the governor,” he said.

While many of the commission’s recommendations deal with the structure and machinations of state government, some deal with the personal relationship between it and state employees. This is especially true with regard to the recommendation to end the TERI plan.

The Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive Program allows state employees to retire after 28 years of service, but keep their jobs and their full salaries for another five years. This allows them to stop paying into the retirement system and collect all of the retirement payments they would have received under normal retirement.

It was originally designed by lawmakers to be open only to employees chosen by their managers as an incentive to keep talented people. But it was later discovered that federal law requires all employees to have access to the same retirement benefits. TERI’s participation skyrocketed, and it’s now open to all state employees and employees of local governments and school districts.

“It is an ineffective management tool,” said Wingate, adding that eliminating TERI could save the state retirement system $650 million in liability. “It’s just not accomplishing what was intended.”

That’s not true, said Broadus Jamerson, director of the S.C. Employees’ Association.

“It meets the mandate,” Jamerson said. “It is retaining dedicated, experienced, loyal state employees who have been doing the job for years.”

Employees currently participating in TERI would not be affected, but no additional employees could be added to the rolls if the Legislature goes along with the recommendation.

There are currently 10,400 employees in the TERI plan.

Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658 or asheinin@thestate.com.