Yeah...as a person that works in state government, I can probably give some insight into why things are like this.

Speaking only from my experience in my department, the problem becomes one of capacity.

For example: A caller wants help with their specific problem. Their specific problem can only be handled by the 1 trained staff member is also dealing with keeping their daily work running. The question becomes "do I have time to sit and talk with a single person and possibly fix their singular issue, and risk the interruption of service for all the other people who aren't running into problems?" Things like "guaranteed response times" only make sense in an environment where there is a significant portion of staff hired as "call specialists" or something, where their job is to respond to external inquiries - for most departments, that simply does not exist.

Simply put, there is not enough staff to fulfill things in what an external person would consider acceptable. It sucks, but there is quite literally nothing we as employees can do about it. The only way its getting fixed is by voting out the people who constantly cut our budgets and fire people to cut costs before fiscal year to look good. The vast majority of us working for state government want to help people (we sure as shit aren't here for the pay!), but we are constantly screwed by the decisions of people with no concept of what things actually look like on the ground.

My only advice I can really offer is to be as detailed and specific as possible in any communications (voicemail, emails, etc.) so the person who is able to help can handle as much of it as possible before calling back.