Municipal employee layoffs continue around the nation.
In Rochester, NY 116 teachers are getting laid off, at a time when they’d be thinking about going back to work:
Among the layoffs were 9 music teachers, 9 physical education teachers and 9 art teachers. Teachers union president Adam Urbanski said those subjects are not mandated in the primary grades to be taught by certified teachers.
“It’s really a huge, huge blow to education in city schools if music teachers, phys ed teachers, art teachers are eliminated or reduced in the elementary grades,” said Urbanski.
In Yonkers, NY the curious decision has been made to lay off more teachers rather than cut the fall sports program:
After eliminating more than 10 percent of its staff, the district will cut deeper to save high school sports in the fall.
A $43 million shortfall that forced the district to shed staff and programs threatened an elimination of the district’s interscholastic sports, but public objections caused officials to reverse course, at least until the winter sports season.
Yonkers Schools Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio said the reversal would require other sacrifices.
“We will continue with at least the fall sports program. Not to dash the dreams of our young people, so they can compete and continue the camaraderie on and off the athletic field, but it will come at a price,” Pierorazio said.
In the Lenape School District of New Jersey, some jobs were saved:
Despite issuing pink slips to more than 400 employees after its proposed budget was defeated in April, the Lenape Regional High School District laid off only about one-fourth that amount.
The change came after the state education commissioner decided at the end of June on a $138 million 2010-11 budget for the district.
The budget — about $3 million less than last year’s spending plan — includes no teacher layoffs, although it does cut 24 positions through attrition.
In Lynwood, WA the city faces a $21 million budget gap in 2011. The biggest part of the budget is public safety.
In short, there’s a projected gap of about $9 million between the amount of money the police department needs and what’s expected to be available in 2011-12. That number represents about 25 percent of the police department’s share of the two-year budget.
Those projections are sending shockwaves through City Hall.
As many as 23 police department jobs may be cut, including the sole animal control officer, patrol officers, office support staff and more, said Mark Brinkman, president of the Lynnwood Police Guild, which represents the lion’s share of the department’s employees. Cuts of that magnitude “would decimate the department,” Brinkman said.
In the city’s budget has been steadily decreasing for the last 4 years. The finance director expects another $1.5 million budget cut. Voters will be asked to approve an increase in the income tax rate, or a number of city employees will have to be laid off:
Sengstock projects that 43 of the city’s 169 employees would need to be laid off to balance the books at the end of 2011. That includes half the police force, half the fire department and half the service department.
Of course cities and towns aren’t the only ones feeling the budget pinch. A new, rather ominous trend is hospital layoffs.
In Plymouth, MA:
Jordan Hospital has notified 15 veteran employees that their medical transcription jobs will be eliminated next month.
Jeff Hall, spokesman for Local 1199 Service Employees International Union, said the medical recordkeeping jobs are being outsourced to a New Jersey-based company that provides medical transcription services.
The 15 employees were notified of the layoffs last week and will lose their jobs Aug. 14.
oops
News of the layoffs comes just days after South Shore Hospital in Weymouth announced a security breach that resulted in the loss of medical records for up to 800,000 patients and staff. South Shore Hospital has refused to identify the data management company involved in the loss of its records.
Hall said Jordan Hospital cited South Shore’s success in outsourcing medical recordkeeping in proposing the cutbacks last week.
In Hartford, CT:
St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center will lay off about 200 employees in late August, as a shortfall in reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid and a “modest decline” in patients exacerbates an already tight financial picture, the hospital’s chief executive said.
and
St. Francis, with 572 beds, had a deficit of $31.7 million, or 5.6 percent of its total revenue, in the year ending June 30, 2008, according to a state report. That year, the cost of care that the hospital provided without receiving payment grew from $12.5 million to $15 million. But in fiscal year 2009, St. Francis was in the black, with a 1.8 percent margin, the state Office of Health Care Access reported.
In 2009, as investments recovered and as hospitals slowed the pace of spending, in part by reducing staff through attrition and layoffs, more of the state’s 30 acute-care hospitals were in the black. Sixteen had higher surpluses or profits than St. Francis in fiscal year 2009, and 13 had worse financial performance. A report for the most recent fiscal year is not yet available.
It sounds like they’re downsizing in order to continue to turn a profit.
One extremely important point:
Health care union representatives said that St. Francis has no unionized employees.
In Ashland, KY:
A union official indicated that 85 people were terminated and 150 others reduced to part time status. The cutbacks took effect immediately.
From the statement made by the hospital:
The economic recession has hit our region hard and is lasting longer than anyone expected. KDMC has weathered the economic downturn for two years by minimizing capital expenditures, changing benefits, renegotiating contracts and changing flow processes whenever possible to improve efficiency. However, the harsh reality is that patients are delaying their own healthcare and often those who are receiving the needed care cannot pay forit. Unreimbursed care and bad debt are at an all-time high for our organization — approaching the $100 million mark this year, which is a 33 percent increase over just a year ago. This is a $25 million dollar difference in one year. Cost reductions alone cannot compensate for this change in our community and in our country.
That’s a stark illustration of the actual economic realities being faced around the country. We hear a lot about recovery on Wall St. No one lives on Wall St. The folks who live on Main St. have a very different view.
Tags: budget cuts, layoffs, public sector workers, unemployment
In San Francisco it can take weeks to get an appointment at the DMV:
Because of the state’s budget deficit, the number of personnel hours to manage California’s car culture has been reduced, while the workload has remained steady or increased. This has led to a shortage of resources at popular and convenient D.M.V. branches like San Francisco’s.
The D.M.V. processed 29.7 million licenses and identification cards statewide in 2009, up nearly 400,000 from 2008. But during the same period, to save money, the state has furloughed D.M.V. employees and closed offices the first three Fridays of each month, said George Valverde, director of the state D.M.V. “We’re losing about 15 percent of our available hours.”
The new reality of fewer open hours and a greater workload means that some problems that were once resolved quickly can now languish.
and
Technology has brought some needed relief: most D.M.V. business can now be done online — 9.4 million transactions were done online last year, a record, with a 20 percent increase in the first quarter of 2010, according to D.M.V. records.
But Armando Botello, a D.M.V. spokesman, said there remained a “digital divide” affecting poorer Californians who lack Internet access. In addition, Mr. Botello said, “a lot of people wait until the last minute” to pay D.M.V. fees — a situation perhaps exacerbated by the recession — and do not leave enough time to receive a license or vehicle registration renewal by mail.
Those who show up without an appointment can expect to stand in line for hours.
In North Carolina:
You don’t just “drop by” the Division of Motor Vehicles in New Hanover County anymore. A visit could take you anywhere from three hours to most of your day.
It’s 6:30 a.m., and people are lining up outside the DMV, hours before it even opens.
Many states have implemented furlough days for state offices. In Wisconsin a creative measure has been added in to the mix:
Titling and registration services are offered by many third-party partners such as some police stations, grocery stores and financial institutions around the state and can be found at the WisDOT web site.
Long lines and delays are happening all over the country. In Nevada:
Malone says a DMV visit that used to take an hour could now take more than three. He says the best way to do business with the DMV is to visit its web site first.
One reason service is even slower in Nevada is implementation of the Real ID Act:
Faced with stiff public opposition, the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles has withdrawn a proposal to immediately require motorists to get a new type of driver’s license. Instead, the DMV will give motorists the option of either continuing with their current licenses or obtaining a license that complies with the federal “Real ID” act.
The Real ID Act was passed in 2005, but proved to be so cumbersome and expensive to adopt, that an extension was granted. The extension expired on Dec. 31, 2009. Now some of the states that did not opt out (at least 15 states have refused to implement REAL ID) are attempting to implement this costly and time consuming new license, at a time when they can ill afford to do so.
While DHS estimated that the implementation of REAL ID will cost states $3.9 billion, Congress has appropriated only $200 million for state implementation.
It seems that attending to DMV business online is the best way to go, if that’s an option. (some states are lagging behind in technology) If you do have to go to the DMV, be sure to call ahead, especially if you live in a state that didn’t opt out of REAL ID, to try to schedule an appointment and make sure you bring everything you need.
Tags: budget cuts, public services
A big round of teacher layoffs is coming. From the NY Times:
School districts around the country, forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, are warning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June.
The districts have no choice, they say, because their usual sources of revenue — state money and local property taxes — have been hit hard by the recession. In addition, federal stimulus money earmarked for education has been mostly used up this year.
As a result, the 2010-11 school term is shaping up as one of the most austere in the last half century. In addition to teacher layoffs, districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes and shorten the school day, week or year to save money.
Arizona:
Tolleson Union High School District is laying off 207 employees, including 34 classroom teachers, to balance a budget hit by state funding cuts, climbing expenses and the March failure of a crucial budget override election.
That’s nearly 19 percent of the district’s workforce.
Iowa:
Dozens of Cedar Rapids School employees learned on Friday they will no longer be with the district.
The school board approved cutting 60 positions earlier this week, including 23 teachers.
Ohio:
The Cleveland school board appears ready to lay off more than 650 teachers union members.
Michigan:
The cash-strapped Flint school district will lay off 261 teachers at the end of the year.
The Flint Community Schools Board of Education approved the layoffs Wednesday night.
These cuts are also affecting state colleges and universities. In New Jersey:
Facing record deficits, Gov. Chris Christie has proposed cutting $173 million in state aid to universities, a nearly 8 percent reduction. New budget language released last week also included a surprise cap on tuition proposals, further squeezing the bottom lines at state colleges and universities.
The first battle will take place Wednesday afternoon in Trenton, during an Assembly budget hearing on the governor’s proposals. The stakes are high for the universities, which have endured cuts in state aid for seven of the past 10 years, according to union officials.
“Immediate effects include larger class sizes, fewer faculty hires, fewer class offerings, cutbacks in services and hours, and cutbacks in technology purchases and facilities renovations,” the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities said.
Georgia:
As universities across the nation face budget shortcuts, Georgia is trying to meet the demands of a $385 million budget cut from the state’s higher education budget.
Chancellor Erroll B. Davis, responsible for the 35 public colleges and universities in Georgia, says that in order to meet this budget cut, the colleges and universities would have to increase tuition by 77 percent. Chancellor Davis, along with other university presidents in the state of Georgia, is attempting to discuss specific budget cuts, rather than have the state House-Senate joint budget committee make budget cuts wherever they choose.
A survey of community college presidents finds that as unemployment rises, so does the enrollment at community colleges. At the same time, these schools are facing significant budget cuts.
It’s all grim news on the education front. That’s why the Local Jobs for America Act is so important.
Tags: budget, budget cuts, Education, Local Jobs for America Act
We saw what happened when Colorado Springs ran out of money:
More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.
The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.
Now Arizona is finding out:
Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops.
But the move has unleashed a torrent of telephone calls and e-mail messages to state lawmakers, newspapers and the Department of Transportation deploring the lost toilets — one of the scores of small indignities among larger hardships that residents of embattled states face as governments scramble to shore up their finances.
And some people continue to refuse the cause-and-effect nature of the closures:
“I honestly think they are setting us up because they want to do a tax increase,” Ms. Roberts said. “I think by shutting down things people want, they will give us one.”
Well, maybe….sorta. If the state doesn’t have enough money, something has to be shut down. Once you get past a few minor cuts here and there, if the state still doesn’t have enough money, it’s going to have to move on to something people want. Yes, the way to avoid that is to raise taxes. But it’s not some sort of revenge. It’s just the way budgeting works.
But people really don’t seem to get that. The constant anti-tax refrain of the Republican party masks another truth: People don’t want services to be cut. After all, the American National Election Study found in 2008 that less than 25% of even self-identified conservatives want to see cuts in things like “protecting the environment,” “aid to the poor,” “public schools,” and “building and repairing highways.” Never mind things like Social Security.
In Arizona and Colorado Springs, among other places, they’re learning that at a certain point, it’s raise taxes or have valued services cut. Hopefully people are figuring that out, despite the Republican party’s efforts to get us all to believe that we can have our cake and eat it too.
Tags: budget cuts, taxes
