Kaine orders 570 layoffs, other cuts
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AP
Published: October 9, 2008
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today announced he will lay off 570 workers, leave 800 unfilled jobs vacant, delay state pay raises and borrow $400 million from the state’s rainy-day fund to help close a $2.5 billion revenue shortfall in the state’s two-year budget.
The governor’s office says his plan reduces government spending while protecting K-12 education and other critical government functions, like public safety.
Kaine yesterday announced he’s cutting spending in his Cabinet offices by $1.4 million.
The state employs 116,000 people, many in the Richmond area. Their compensation costs Virginia taxpayers more than $5 billion a year.
In addition to the layoffs, frozen positions and delay in pay raise, Kaine’s biggest cost-reductions measures include reductions of 5 or 7 percent to colleges and universities, and restructuring Department of Corrections facilities, which would involve closing some older facilities. PDF: October 2008 reduction plan
“I know that the layoffs associated with these cuts come at a challenging time for state employees, and I regret that they are necessary,” Kaine said today. “I have instructed the Virginia Employment Commission and our Human Resources Department to help those state employees who are laid off through this difficult transition.”
The official revenue reforecast projects a shortfall of $973.6 million for fiscal year 2009 and $1.54 billion for fiscal year 2010, or just over $2.5 billion for the biennium. Kaine said he will balance the FY 2009 budget through state agency savings and spending reductions of over $348 million and additional steps, including a withdrawal of about $400 million from the Revenue Stabilization Fund, commonly called the “rainy-day fund.“
The new forecast predicts a decline in the general fund budget for fiscal year 2009 of 4.0%, and very slow growth – of 3.6% – as the recovery begins in fiscal year 2010.
“The shortfall for 2010 is projected to be even greater, and while I will work to protect items like employee raises, we must keep open the possibility that they may have to be eliminated altogether as we make additional reductions,” Kaine said. “We will continue to examine every government expenditure for performance and efficiency, but we will have to look at new ways of doing things and ask ourselves hard questions about all of our programs.”
“No one would wish for a crisis like this, and as we move forward, there will be more difficult choices to make,” Kaine continued. “But we should embrace the opportunity to critically evaluate how we’re spending taxpayer money, and whether every program is delivering the results people deserve.”
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on October 14, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Tough economic times call for tough economic measures. If you have less students thusly you need less teachers. With average class sizes running around 30 i would guess you lose 9 teachers at an average of 40-50k a year. I take that back you would save about half a mil. Of course if you had half a heart you would not fire them like you suggested. I reiterate try a furlough. As has been stated many times in recent months tough times require tough actions. Firing teachers would be harsh don’t you think???? Its either that or be faced with a monster deficit like Fairfax County and MD. For all we know it may be just as bad in D.C, i haven’t seen their latest budget figures. LOL Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on October 14, 2008 at 5:30 am
Chris, using your math - a family of 4 living in a home that costs $1,200 per month equals a cost of $300 per family member. One kid moves out. So is the cost of that home now $900 per month ($300 x 3 equals $900) or does the cost remain $1,200? Of course it remains $1,200 so it now costs $400 per family member.
The other kid moves out, house still costs $1,200 so the new cost per family member is now $600 per person for mom and dad. ($1,200 * 2 is $600)
If dad moves out, and mom sits there alone, it is still costing $1,200 per month or $1,200 per person.
Don’t focus on the number of people, but the fixed cost of the infrastruction to house the people. Unless PWC sells the house and lays off mom, the cost will remain $1,200 per month whether anyone lives there or not.
Which is what I’ve said from the beginning.
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on October 14, 2008 at 5:18 am
Chris, this is not my math but a story from the WP reporting on the PWC situation. The numbers are from Corey, not me.
As I have said over and over and over again - the cost of the program is not based on the number of students, but on the fixed cost of running the program - money the county will spend if there is one student or 20,000.
As students drop from the program, the cost per remaining student actually GOES UP.
Every student can drop out and leave us with zero students, but if we still pay the teachers and pay the rent, our cost remains $5 million a year. If one kid remains, the cost per student is $5 million.
The point I keep trying to make is you only save money if you cut EXPENSES. The number of students has no impact on that.
So, for PWC to benefit from a declining illegal immigrant student enrollment, we must lay off American citizens employed to serve those illegals. I’m sure the teachers “thank” you for your efforts to cut their jobs.
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on October 14, 2008 at 1:26 am
I am confused why would they need 1.6 million in reserves if their was such a significant drop in ESOL enrollment? 279*10 is about $250000 something about your math does not compute Ray. We have always known that though. Must be the Connolly school of how to run the Fairfax County budget into the ground. Almost half a billion in the red there. Where did it all go? LOL Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on October 12, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Glock, I found the McCain liberials. They have set up tents in the Obama camp - waiting for November 4th to make Virginia a blue state.
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on October 12, 2008 at 7:24 pm
The Prince William County school system’s enrollment in English for Speakers of Other Languages has dipped this year to 13,130 students—a drop of 279 from last year—but the figure is much higher than projected and will force the system to try to find about $1.6 million in its reserve funds and state coffers, school officials said.“
I just thought I’d send this out to Chris Cummings, from an article in the WP.
Chris, as I’ve said over and over, unless there are staff cuts and infastructure savings, a mere drop in students doesn’t save a nickel.
This would indicate many of the students enrolled are NOT illegal and legally entitled to this program. Corey made great hay with the headlines, but after all the shouting and backslapping, the bills still gotta be paid.
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on October 12, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I agree Bush hasn’t been the President he was in his first term and could have done more to stop the bank failure problem other than Congress’s and his weak attempt back in 2005 to fix it. Next to that weaking of credit lending standards back in the late 90’s was the main contributor to the current debacle. Tightening those standards back to what they were is the only solution. LOL Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( Glock19 ) on October 11, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Wow, raywilliams, uninformed people scare me. Where are all the liberals who supported McCain 2 years ago?? Maybe you should read this article from the New York Times from Sept. 30, 1999
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec;=&spon;=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on October 10, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Sorry Madmex Corey Steawart was recently reelected so you will be waiting for a long time in spite of the bad economy so you know where you can stuff that. Incidentally the state had a surplus when Kaine entered office, now look at it and he is even behind the 8 ball when it comes to layoffs and budget cuts. If Mr. kaine had taken more of an initiative the budget wouldn’t be in such a mess. He was warned by the Legislature and didn’t listen. Comparatively speaking PWC jobwise and budget wise is sitting pretty especially when you compare it to Gerry Connolly’s nightmare called Fairfax which is at least a half billion in the red according to recent budget figures. What will they cut there? What has Connolly done to lessen the problem? Will his successor fix the problem or just let it continue to accelerate out of control. I am definitely voting for Fimian at least he is not fluffing his business acumen or lying about religion or attacking others because of their religious beliefs. By the way Gerry Connolly is Catholic if he is attacking Fimian for being a Catholic then he is just attacking his own religion. What is Connolly’s stance on abortion, the budget, what are his solutions to the economic mess? I have yet to hear anything concrete in the way of plans from him. You can’t spend your way out of a massive deficit. I agree with JVA here we, including all politicians must work as Americans for a solution to the economic mess. It is not about party anymore. I reiterate my support for Warner and Fimian and no support for the top of both tickets. LOL Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( jVA ) on October 10, 2008 at 8:14 am
“We have a lot to thank towards Mr. Corey A. Stewart for all the problems that have been caused.“
Look, I’m no Corey Stewart fan, but these current economic issues go well beyond his control.
We’re going to need people like Corey Stewart and Tim Kaine to make these kinds of tough decisions for a while. If we want them to make good decisions on what needs to be cut, we’re going to have to set aside some of our political differences.
Like it or not, we’re all in this mess together.
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