Jun 18 2009
State worker pay and the budget
“It’s outrageous that the Legislature would ask Californians to pay higher taxes but refuse to cut the pay of state workers by 5 percent. This is exactly why so many Californians have lost faith in Sacramento’s ability to solve problems,” Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said in a statement. The governor ordered furloughs for state workers that began earlier this year and amount to, approximately, 9.2% pay cut. Now he wants the Legislature to order another 5% pay cut.
The Governor’s being ridiculous. The state workers are taking the brunt of this budget battle when it is not their fight. Most state workers work for their paychecks. They took a state job because, although the pay is lower than in the private sector, there are good benefits and stability. State workers aren’t the problem with the state budget.
To discover the problem with the state budget, the Governor needs only look in the mirror. He has signed budgets that have drastically expanded spending in the years he has been Governor. He hasn’t used his veto power to bring the budgets in line with reasonable revenue forecasts. He hasn’t proposed anything new, nothing to “blow up the boxes,” that would fix the problem.
Instead the Governor picks on the people who help the state run. The state workerrs are the people at DMV who process driver’s license’s and car registrations. They are the peopel who cut paychecks for other state workers. State workers process child welfare payments, health insurance claims, make day cares safe, and provide the support for all the state services. They aren’t the budget problem. The savings from cutting state worker pay are minimal . In some departments they aren’t savings at all because workers then work overtime to get everything done that they have to get done. The work the workers have to do doesn’t stop because of furloughs, it simply gets paid at an overtime rate.
The Governor needs to take a look at other options. State workers help keep Sacramento’s economy afloat. They spend their money, pay their mortgages, buy houses and cars, and support other businesses in their local communities. They aren’t the budget problem with the state.
The state spends money on an “arts camp” during the summer in the education budget. They pay firefighters 2.5 times their pay rate on overtime instead of the 1.5 that everyone else gets. They allow the CCPOA to negotiate contracts that give their employees outrageous raises and pay scales. The state pays the budget for the Legislature - who instead of fixing the problems within their perview - spends time creating more bills to spend more money in a year when there is no money to be spent. Want to cut some pay? Cut the Legislature’s budget to exactly what it needs to fund the pay for the legislators. Make them work without staff. The staff isn’t doing any good, they aren’t being creative with solutions and urging their members to do the right thing. Instead the staff is spending their time ferrying the members around, and creating bills that spend more money.
Governor, look elsewhere for your savings.
