Tuesday, April 14, 2009

State Employee Furloughs and Layoffs and suspension of DROP Program possible according to House Speaker

State lawmakers will have to start pruning spending and the size of government at the session that begins April 27 in the wake of a revenue shortfall of $4 billion in the next three years, said House Speaker Jim Tucker.

Tucker said the state has about 14,000 more employees now than the Southern average. He said lawmakers will take up issues to reduce the workforce, revamp the way the state Civil Service System operates and look into ways to shrink the cost of higher education to deliver college and vocational-technical school programs more efficiently.

He said the state also is looking into suspending the state's retirement bonus program that allows a worker to remain on the job for up to three years and pay into the system and accrue higher benefits.

Tucker said the state may also have to resort to layoffs and furloughs of state workers to balance its budgets in the next few years.

3 comments:

Retired DOTD said...

It should be a requirement that members of the legislature know what they are talking about before making dumb statements or voting on legislation. Rep. Tucker should be told that an employee on DROP does not cost the state or LASERS one red penny; in fact, the state and LASERS make money when an employee is on DROP. It is sad that when the budget gets tight that members of the legislature blame hard working state employees. What a sad state of affairs.

Anonymous said...

You are right, when the DROP program was created it was designed as revenue neutral. Unfortunately this looks like the "slam" it to state employee session.

Rebecca Taylor said...

I am within a year of going on DROP. I was already expecting a possibility of furlough or merit increase loss, but this is truly a slap in the face.

It is time that the state start cutting from the top and work it's way down. Let those that are already over-compensated for lackluster work performance with little or no accountability suffer for a change. They can afford it.

Leave DROP alone.