FactFACT CHECK - PEF President Ken Brynien makes a point during his state budget testimony February 10 in Albany. PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran and PEF Civil Service Enforcement Director Tom Cetrino are at right. — Photo by John Epting
PEF shows state better ways to close budget gap
By SHERRY HALBROOK
State employees are not the cause of New York’s budget problems, and laying them off or trying to take their pay would be both unfair and unhelpful.
That’s the message PEF President Ken Brynien presented to state lawmakers at a February 10 hearing in Albany on the state 2010-11 Executive Budget proposal and its potential effect on the state work force.
Facts over fiction
The Executive Budget calls for a net reduction of the equivalent of 674 full-time positions.
“This continues a two-decades-long reduction in what the state spends on employee wages and salaries,” Brynien said. “Yet every year, some groups in this state call for an extra pound of flesh from state workers. These groups insist state agencies and the state work force are huge contributors to the state’s fiscal woes.”
Not only do the facts refute that theory, they support the opposite conclusion, Brynien said. These facts include:
• New York has one of the smallest state work forces per capita in the nation. Only six states have smaller state work forces per capita than New York;
• The state operations budget hasn’t grown since 2008. When compared to every other part of the budget, state agency budgets have grown at the lowest rate over the last 10 years;
• In constant 2009 dollars, the amount spent on state employees’ wages has fallen by about $300M since fiscal year 1989-90, an average annual decline of $15M;
• Since 2008, the state work force has been cut by 4,500 positions;
• If the governor’s Executive Budget were enacted, the state work force would be the same size it was 10 years ago, with more than 15,000 fewer positions than in 1994, in spite of a growing need for state services; and
• In 2009, PEF and the Civil Service Employees Association agreed not to oppose enactment of a new pension Tier 5 that will save the state and local governments $35B over 30 years.
Brynien said blaming state workers for deficits is just a convenient way to avoid admitting to the real roots of the problem.
“Time and again, we’ve shown state workers provide a much better value for tax dollars than the high-cost consultants who too often replace them,” Brynien said. “The average consultant performing work my members do costs the state $82.42 an hour or $160,719 a year. That’s 62 percent more than the average $50.80 average hourly cost for equivalent state employees.”
Better options
Brynien urged the legislators to reject salary and benefit cuts, and restore funds to allow the state to honor its contractual obligations. He asked they amend the budget bill to continue the state’s responsibility to pay Medicare Part B premiums, instead of palming the cost off onto the state health plan so enrolled employees and retirees would share the cost with the state.
Brynien called on lawmakers to preserve services and reject many of the proposals to close state facilities or reduce their service capacity.
However, he said, PEF supports some of the governor’s cost-saving proposals such as:
- Allowing state and local governments to amortize their pension payments;
- Allowing NYSHIP to self-insure for employee health benefits; and
- Certain proposed agency consolidations that would save a total of $10M.
If the state work force must make still greater sacrifices, Brynien recommended the state:
- Enact a consultant-reduction plan – The state should set a goal of saving $375M annually by 2012-13 through reduced dependence on private consultants. Phased in over the three years, this plan could save the state more than $656M.
- Expand the voluntary severance program. – In 2009, the governor proposed to eliminate 4,500 state positions by offering a $20,000 severance payment. However, only 1,200 positions were eliminated, and 1,000 employees were denied participation.
“At minimum, the severance should be offered to the employees who were denied, which would save the state more than $52 million in FY 2010-11. If the state eliminated another 2,300 positions through the severance program, meeting the governor’s initial target, the state would save another $120M,” Brynien said.
- Reduce state overtime costs – Understaffing cost the state more than $500M in overtime in 2008-09.
Reducing the state work force does not reduce its workload. State agencies still must complete mandated work, and state facilities must meet staffing levels required for accreditation.
As much as 60 percent of overtime could be eliminated by hiring entry-level state employees, saving at least $33.5M annually, or more than $100M over three years.
- Increase state revenues – The state should enact the governor’s proposed excise taxes on cigarettes and on sweeteners, bottled soft drinks, and their base products. Together, they would raise an estimated $675M in state revenues.
Brynien also urged lawmakers to consider revenue ideas advocated by New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness that would generate billions of dollars annually.
“These savings will more than pay for any restorations PEF is seeking,” Brynien said.