Thread: Florida state workers get pink slips, more cuts ahead...

Florida state workers get pink slips, more cuts ahead

By Michael Peltier
TALLAHASSEE, Fla, July 1 | Fri Jul 1, 2011 6:14pm EDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla, July 1 (Reuters) - To patch a $4 billion budget hole, more than 1,600 Florida state government employees were laid off as of Friday, and another 562,000 began paying into their pension plans for the first time in 37 years.

The 1,600 are a very small fraction of the state's overall government workforce, but additional layoffs and cuts are expected as state agencies and local governments respond to a series of belt-tightening measures approved by lawmakers at the request of Republican Governor Rick Scott.

State agency cuts have been well-publicized. But austerity measures, combined with agency realignments and Scott's campaign promises to reduce corporate income and property taxes, will translate into pink slips for some local government employees as well.

The South Florida Water Management District, which oversees flood control and Everglades restoration, has offered 123 employees severance packages as part of an effort to trim $252 million from the agency's $1.1 billion annual budget.

The agency is expected to lay off 100 more in the next several weeks in response to a legislative decision to cut tax levels for all water management agencies, whose budgets have already been depleted by falling property values.

"The (buyout) was the first step toward streamlining operations and achieving staffing levels that correspond with agency core functions," spokesman Gabe Margasak said in an email. "The new staffing levels for the agency have not yet been finalized but will be in place effective August 17."

A FIGHT OVER TEACHERS' PENSIONS

Late Thursday, a Tallahassee judge rejected a request by the state's largest teachers union to temporarily bar the state from collecting 3 percent of state employees' wages for their retirement funds. The state has picked up the tab for all pension contributions since 1974.

The Florida Education Association had requested an injunction while it proceeds with a lawsuit over the new law, which union representatives say breaks earlier contracts and amounts to a 3 percent pay cut for teachers, many of whom have not had a pay raise in several years.

The group is representing nearly 700,000 active and retired state and local employees who collect pensions from the Florida Retirement System.

"They created a budget deficit by giving tax breaks to corporate special interests and then tried to solve their problem on the backs of Florida's working families," union president Andy Ford said following the ruling.

State officials are looking for further ways to curb costs. Lawmakers took the politically sensitive step of setting up a task force to look at whether the state's various law enforcement agencies could combine training, logistics and other services to reduce duplication.

"This task force provides an opportunity to chart a path for common sense and cost-effective state law enforcement," Scott wrote in a letter to law enforcement groups this week.

The Florida Sheriffs Association will participate in the task force discussions. The group acknowledges there could be some duplication in efforts across the state, executive director Steve Casey said on Friday.

But the group will oppose efficiencies that take any powers from sheriffs or add responsibilities without additional resources, he said.

"It's no secret that the sheriffs have not supported the concept of a state police in Florida," he said. (Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Greg McCune and Jan Paschal)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... RD20110701

Washington state closes tourism office over budget woes

By Laura L. Myers
SEATTLE | Fri Jul 1, 2011 7:33pm EDT

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The state of Washington formally shuttered its tourism office on Friday, a move that helps close deep budget deficits but makes it the only U.S. state no longer spending money to attract visitors.

The remaining $2 million expected to fund the tourism office over the next year was cut by a vote of the Washington state legislature in May as part of the budget that Governor Christine Gregoire signed into law on June 15.

Gregoire first proposed ending tourism funding in December, as the state faced a $5.2 billion budget gap.

"It would be incredibly difficult to use taxpayer dollars to support our tourism office, while at the same time make significant cuts to education and health care," Gregoire spokeswoman Karina Shagren said.

"(The governor) is working closely with the private sector to ensure potential visitors continue to know about the attractions and the beautiful natural wonders found in Washington state," Shagren said.

Private-sector marketing efforts are underway by a the nonprofit Washington Tourism Alliance, which has raised about $300,000 of a targeted $15 million toward promoting the state.

A notice on the state's official tourism website urges readers to "stay tuned" to the group's Twitter feed for updates.

According to the website, total direct travel spending in Washington state was $15.2 billion in 2010, a 7.4 percent increase over 2009.

Nationwide, about half of states are shrinking tourism budgets because of tight revenues, while the other half plan to increase funding, said Geoff Freeman, executive vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Travel Association.

The Washington Legislature's decision to slash all tourism funding "is almost unprecedented," he said.

Louisiana's tourism budget, bolstered by British Petroleum funding after that company's oil spill seeped across the Gulf Coast, has increased 69 percent, from about $19 million to $32 million.

Alaska's jumped 60 percent, to $18.7 million. Michigan's increased about 47 percent, to $27.4 million.

"My reaction was 'Those fools. Those dolts. Those idiots,' Colorado Tourism Office director Al White told Reuters in an interview. "They should have learned from our mistakes."

White said Colorado lost one-third of overnight visitors after its tourism office closed from 1993 to 2000, calling that decision "an incredible economic travesty."

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Greg McCune)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... N020110701

JULY 1, 2011, 7:19 P.M. ET

Minnesota Government Shuts Down

By AMY MERRICK

Minnesota encountered its second government shutdown in six years on Friday as Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican lawmakers failed to reach a compromise on closing the state's $5 billion budget gap.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Iowa averted a shutdown Thursday, and several other states waited for governors to finalize their budgets.

Without a two-year budget agreement in place, state parks and the Minnesota Zoo will be shut for the July 4 holiday weekend, nonemergency road construction will halt and thousands of state workers will be furloughed.


Hundreds of demonstrators hold a candlelight vigil (using glow sticks) outside the Minnesota State Capitol Thursday.

Government functions deemed critical by a county judge on Wednesday will keep operating, including the state patrol, prisons and the Medicaid health-insurance program for the poor. Courts will stay open, and welfare and food-stamp payments will continue.

Republican leaders met with Mr. Dayton several times Thursday, but both sides gave few details about the talks.

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, a Republican, said late Thursday that the state's health and human-services budget was a sticking point in the negotiations.

Ms. Koch was interrupted several times by protestors in the Capitol chanting, "Tax the rich!"

Republican lawmakers had suggested approving a short-term budget to keep the government running, but Mr. Dayton had said he wasn't interested.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Dayton didn't return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.

The governor and Republicans who control the Legislature have collided over the budget since Mr. Dayton took office in January. Mr. Dayton, the state's first Democratic governor in 20 years, wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest Minnesota residents to erase part of the deficit.

Republicans, who campaigned on a platform of no tax increases, want to eliminate the gap through budget cuts and accounting shifts. The state GOP took control of both houses of the Legislature for the first time in 38 years as part of a power shift of state governments toward Republicans in November's elections.

Mr. Dayton wants the state to spend $35.8 billion over the next two years, while Republicans favor a $34 billion spending plan.

In 2005, the Minnesota government partially shut down for eight days when then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty, currently a Republican presidential candidate, and Democratic lawmakers missed the deadline to complete a budget. That impasse ended with an agreement to impose a new "health impact fee" on cigarettes.

Minnesota's battle has been echoed in budget fights across the U.S. States had to close a collective $86 billion budget gap for their new fiscal year, which began Friday for most states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

While state tax revenue has been improving over the past year, lawmakers have had to make sharp cuts because federal stimulus funds used to prop up state budgets during the recession have run out.

In Iowa, lawmakers on Thursday reached a last-minute deal over using Medicaid funds for abortions in certain cases. The practice has been legal in Iowa for decades, but some Republican lawmakers wanted to end it.

The compromise will require that women receive information about alternatives to abortion, such as putting a child up for adoption. Women seeking an abortion paid for by Medicaid also must be given the opportunity to view their ultrasound. The issue was the last hurdle to finishing a $5.99 billion budget.

California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed an $86 billion budget Thursday. It was the first state spending plan to pass under a new law that allows budgets to be passed by a majority rather than a two-thirds vote.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, used his line-item-veto power Thursday to trim portions of the $30.6 billion budget sent to him by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn endorsed most of his state's $33 billion budget, despite his objections that the plan shortchanges education and health care. Mr. Quinn, a Democrat, vetoed portions of the budget to free up money for his priorities.

—The Associated press contributed to this article.

Write to Amy Merrick at amy.merrick@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... NewsSecond

Minnesota Govt Shutdown Sparks Fireworks Over Political Blame

Friday, 01 Jul 2011 08:32 AM
By Newsmax Wires

MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota's state government began a broad shut down on Friday going into the July 4 holiday after Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders failed to reach a budget deal.
Parts of the government had already begun to shut down on Thursday ahead of the midnight budget deadline, including some websites and dozens of highway rest stops on one of the biggest travel days of the year.

The budget impasse means that some 23,000 of the roughly 36,000 Minnesota state employees will be furloughed and state parks and campgrounds closed ahead of what is usually their busiest stretch of the year for the July 4 holiday.

Dayton and Democratic legislative leaders Senator Tom Bakk and Representative Paul Thissen met for more than a week with Republican leaders including House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch. The leaders met several times on Thursday in the governor's office.

Neither Dayton nor the Republican leaders gave any indication when they would meet next to discuss the budget.

"I deeply regret that the last week of intense negotiations between the Republican legislative leaders and Senator Bakk, Representative Thissen and myself have failed to bridge the divide between us," Dayton said in a speech.

He said his last proposed two-year general fund budget was $35.7 billion, but the differences between his approach and the Republican leaders had not changed since January. The gap between the two sides stood at $1.4 billion, he said.

Republican leaders had asked Dayton to call a special session to approve a temporary extension of funding for 10 days while the budget negotiations were completed, saying that they believed they were close to a budget deal.

Dayton dismissed the offer as "a publicity stunt."

"They have known for two months, I have said consistently, that I would not agree to anything until I agree to everything," Dayton said.

All but the most critical state functions will be suspended while the spending impasse continues into the new fiscal two-year period that starts on Friday, which would make the 2011 shutdown much broader in scope than one in 2005.

Dayton and the Republican-led legislature have been far apart in their public positions over a two-year budget plan to close a $5 billion deficit. Only the agricultural budget was approved during the legislative session that ended in May.

Dayton's first budget proposal included an income tax increase on the wealthiest state residents and an expansion in overall spending. Republican leaders first sought some tax cutbacks in aiming to halt spending increases.

In the latest negotiations, Republicans had offered to raise $1 billion of revenue by shifting schools payments and issuing bonds for tobacco settlement money and Dayton offered to limit his proposed income tax increase to residents earning more than $1 million per year. None of the offers stuck.

"Tax revenues are still in my view the fairest way to resolve this, but we have offered an awful lot of different possibilities and they have too," Dayton said.

Republican leaders had said they believed the sides were close to agreement, but Thursday afternoon Koch told reporters that after a temporary funding extension they could "work for the next week or so and get everything wrapped up."

Prison staffing, state police patrols and staffing at nursing and veterans homes were among services found critical and allowed to continue by a Ramsey County judge. Staffing at numerous other departments will be cut to the bare bones.

Other critical functions included the executive and legislative branches of state government and the courts.

Payments to schools and local governments, and programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and temporary assistance to needy families also will continue during the shutdown.

However, numerous other programs were not considered critical and will be closed including the state lottery, the gambling control board and the racing commission.

About 100 road and bridge programs not considered critical to prevent an imminent bridge collapse or in response to a road emergency also were to be suspended after Thursday.

The Minnesota Zoo would also close to the public with spending permitted only to feed and care for the animals.

And among popular northern Minnesota spots, vacationers may stay at the privately run villa and lodge operations at Giants Ridge golf resort during the shutdown, but its lauded golf courses will be closed.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Minnes ... /id/402131