Johnson’s boss, Gov. Peter Shumlin, has been counting on $10.8 million in unspecified labor savings to help bridge the state’s $113 million budget gap. The administration has implored the Vermont State Employees Association to reopen a recently negotiated contract in order to find half of those savings, but so far the union has declined to do so.
“It seems unlikely that the State’s labor contract will be reopened as part of the solution to balancing the budget,” Johnson wrote Shumlin’s secretaries and commissioners. “This situation leaves me with no alternative but to begin planning for a significant reduction in force across all sectors of Vermont state government to be effective July 2015, the start of the new fiscal year.”
Johnson’s letter appears designed to ratchet up pressure on the union by calling for specific job cuts to be identified. But VSEA executive director Steve Howard said Thursday his members do not intend to budge.
“We believe these [reductions in force] are unnecessary, that there are better ways to balance the budget that make more sense to the state, including asking the wealthiest Vermonters who’ve had all the economic gains in the last 10 years to pay a little more to support state services that their communities depend on,” Howard said.
In his letter, Johnson provided specific savings targets for each agency and department and asked their heads to submit plans to his office by Monday. Hardest hit would be the Agency of Human Services, which must come up with $4.6 million in cuts, the Agency of Natural Resources ($1.3 million), the Agency of Administration ($1.2 million) and the Department of Public Safety ($1 million).
“To the degree possible, and considering operational and programmatic needs, I encourage you to consider the impact on individuals by focusing first on vacant positions and only looking to filled positions as a last resort,” Johnson wrote. “Depending upon which positions and associated funding are earmarked, we could be looking at a range of 150 to 325 positions to reduce statewide.”
While Howard said his members are willing to work with the administration to identify efficiencies, they will not reopen their contracts.
“Our membership is united,” he said. “You bargain in good faith. You make a deal. And you need to stick by that.”
Disclosure: Paul Heintz’s partner, Shayla Livingston, is a state employee and member of the VSEA’s legislative committee.
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Job elimination/cut backs should be happening ongoing in a healthy organization that is always looking for best practices and high efficiency. (I know, we’re talking State govt here…) Next, when budgets need to be met, cuts (using a scalpel, not a hatchet approach) are not desirable but sometimes unavoidable. Lastly and never — threaten or plan cuts based on labor contract negotiations. If/when this happens, just remember, Shumlin is the boss here. Would be just another sleazy and dishonest tactic that has come to identify him. These clowns would never make it in the real world of business!
Simply a shell game. Baby dies – add 14 positions in Human Services, then cut that and more to balance budget; Prisoner escapes – make jail sentences longer, but cut jail spaces to reduce budget; Lake Champlain needs cleaning – legislate a volunteer program; drug problem – open 5 more rehab centers, but then cut human services to balance budget; more kids in state custody b/c of abuse and neglect – cut budget on attorneys and judges…. I suppose the next underfunded agency which has a crisis, we will spend money for a ‘blue ribbon panel study’ to say – you cut the budget too much, so then put the money back and hope revenues have risen by then. Shumlin is just trying to dupe the public and treats Vermonters as too stupid to catch on. Need another example? How about decrying medicare cost shifting and adding more taxes to the businesses of Vermont while promising to pay it back to taxpayers ?? If its coming back – why pipe the money through the government? Or how about cutting energy efficiency vermont and loose federal matching funds – shift cost of energy efficient to the utility and let the utility raise rates on the taxpayer: Hey, it’s not a tax increase…. Yeah – we are that stupid.
When are the morons going to begin treating us like adults. Shumlin needs to explain to the state and the workers in our bloated government that IBM wasn’t a sale when you pay 1.5 billion to give your business away and IBM got a better deal than Global Foundries, he forced the shut down of Entergy which was supporting a large portion of revenue Kennametals the etc etc..
and replacing those family size pay checks with snow shoveling and keg rolling we will not achieve the same level of tax revenue for a very very long time. VT isnt loaded with 1%ers s contrary to the State employees trying to gut that pig we are 43rd on the list of wealth. The wealthiest town in the state Jericho has an average income of 73k when IBM shutters it will be what 30k Wake up and smell the coffee, NY state is offering business owners 10 years tax free while Montpelier destroys our opportunity to create revenue with more taxation.
When the state employees salaries are decreased, do they get to “renegotiate” their mortgages? Their property taxes, kids college tuition, price of heating fuel, gasoline, food? The clowns in the state house blatantly waste more of our money than they use productively, but the state workers are always a great scapegoat for their failures.
Given that the governor spends most of his time working for the DGA, maybe he should be looking to them for a check, in his time of need. http://sevendaysvt-test.newspackstaging.com/OffMessage/arch…
“NY state is offering business owners 10 years tax free while Montpelier destroys our opportunity to create revenue with more taxation.”
Walt,
Cuomo is a corporate whore, standing at the borders of the surrounding states, lifting his skirt with a sign saying “come here and do whatever you want”. Giving all his big business “friends” (donors) a free ride, when at some point, the tax paying citizens are going to have to pick up the bill, isn’t good leadership, it’s the same old corruption with a new costume.
VT has the 6th highest tax burden in the country we are the 43rd state in wealth. The fact that “Cuomo is a corporate Whore’ doesn’t change the reality that the chip plant is bleeding a million dollars a day all of the Entergy jobs are going away and we cannot gather the revenue we need to support the social welfare state. with a collapsing structure for prosperous workers.
Cuomo is dismantling the big government increases in state workers his father built that killed NY jobs .
State workers are not net producers for government sorry Freedom to Think you need workers who are in productive industry in collectives called corporations to support a social welfare state with out more productive workers than state workers the system collapses. In order to offer a hand up you must be firmly standing planted on two feet.
http://vtgpi.org/indicators/economic/Net_C…
Here is another of our genius legislation projects FreedomToThink we legislated a GPI but funny thing is it hasn’t been updated for a few years and all of the numbers posted so far are are squishy. and it looks like net capital investment is headed down especially when you remove the VHC 100 million dollar debacle.
We can all have ideological opinions about how we tax and what we tax for but we cant have our own facts when making those decisions making ad hominem attacks about Cumo whoring for corporations doesn’t obviate the fact NY STATE and their legislature passed a law to incite more opportunity for entrepreneurs to grow business and wages let them incubate for ten years.
VT is all about the tax and must compete in that arena or wither and die. That isnt conjecture or a wish to hue to an ideological view point it is simple fact.