The Five Percent Solution

No one will find anything to celebrate in Nancy Remsen's account of where things stand in the coming Montpelier showdown between the administration and the union that represents state workers.  The administration is looking for permanent savings which means either reducing the state's workforce by some 320 positions or cutting, by five percent, the salaries of all employees making over $30,000.

Layoffs would be the better way to go.  With permanent cuts, we might get some reorganization and efficiencies which every bureaucracy needs from time to time, no matter how much the bureaucrats insist otherwise.  In their world, a larger appropriation in next year's budget is always the prime mission.  We talked, a while back, to a man who had the unenviable job of managing workforce reductions for Governor Richard Snelling when the state's economy was in even worse trouble than it is now.  He told us that some of the strongest resistance that he encountered came from the department heads.  "The governor's own people," he said.  "Can you believe that?"

Well, yes. 

So we will hear that every single state worker is essential; doing vital work and doing it superbly.  Anyone who has ever worked in a bureaucracy – especially a government bureaucracy – knows that isn't true.  We've heard from Obama's people that you "never want to let a good crisis go to waste," and this crisis would be a good time to look at state government and make it leaner and more efficient. Which means layoffs.

But if it should work out that we can't cut jobs and must cut salaries, instead, here is something worth remembering:

The average salary of a state worker is around $50,000.  In the private sector, that number would be some $38,000.

Keep those numbers in mind when the political arguments turn on "fairness"  and the rank heartlessness of "Mean Jim" Douglas.

Comments

[ndrek Oruoja]

The points made are quite valid, but it's a shame that it will never be applied to the vast bloated sacred cow education system. At least if the proposals go through state workers will not only see pay freezes, but reductions and increases in paying for benefits such as their share for health care. This all in a time when not only do pay increases and benefit preservation continue for for the educrats, but now they will be looking for outside funds to supplement their losses and cracks within in their pension system.

[Milton Newport]

At the gov's press conference yesterday, Douglas was insistent that saving the economy should be Job One for state government. All the press wanted to talk about was gay marriage. The badgering questions went on and on. Good for the gov for showing his resolve. Vermont is lucky to have him. My concern about the whole gay marriage thing is that it will, indeed, take away the attention from the real job at hand - economic recovery. They've already said there's too little time to talk about Vermont Yankee relicensing. What other crucial building block gets deep-sixed next, I wonder. You just wonder what they are thinking.

[Dennis Lukas]

If one out of six people work for the State, you can not lay them off as the state will lose revenue from the taxes collected on them. Socialism 101.
Fire every state worker and start from scratch, that includes teachers. Stop taking federal money for welfare. Cut welfare payments by 50%.Give the unemployed $100.00 per month for 3 months. You would see people get off their duffs and get a job or move.