PEF concerned understaffing will worsen
State spending, jobs
By SHERRY HALBROOK
PEF members and state services are already seeing the early effects of a chilled economy and falling state tax revenues.

To cope with the state’s declining revenues in the wake of terrorist attacks that began September 11, Gov. George Pataki has asked the federal government for $54 billion in aid and is moving to cut state spending by $3 billion through fiscal 2002-03.

His spending cuts include reducing the state workforce by 5,000 positions using early retirement incentives and a hiring freeze.

This would save $300 million to $400 million over 18 months, depending on how quickly people leave the workforce. Pataki has assured PEF he will try to avoid layoffs.

He is also eliminating all nonessential spending for items other than personal services. And he told state agencies to find still more places to cut their spending.

“PEF is depending on the help of its labor-management committees and local leaders, to monitor exactly how these cuts affect our members and state services,” says PEF Vice President and Labor-Management Coordinator Pat Baker.

State leaders are betting on a new law authorizing expanded casino gambling, racing and wagering, and state lottery operations to boost New York’s sagging revenues. The legislation also saves the state approximately $275 million in measures related to school construction aid and litigation involving a gas pipeline.

The governor is expected to include budget cuts when he submits his 2002-03 budget to the Legislature, which is due in January.

“We believe the state workforce can be reduced by 5,000 over the next 18 months without any layoffs,” says PEF’s chief fiscal analyst, Tom Cetrino.

The state is revoking all exemptions and waivers that have been issued by the Division of Budget since the hiring freeze was established by Pataki in 1995.

Now, all requests to fill positions must be approved by the DOB and hiring is limited to positions directly related to health, safety, and revenue generation. These positions must be filled by reassigning existing qualified employees whenever possible.

“We are particularly concerned that attrition and early retirements may worsen short-staffing problems that exist in some state agencies and threaten the delivery of essential services,” Cetrino says. “We will urge the governor’s Budget Task Force to ensure adequate staffing levels are maintained through the expanded use of transfers, so essential services can be delivered.”

But the cuts won’t stop there.

“It appears state agencies were told they have to cut their spending by additional specific amounts so the state can save $2 billion beyond the savings from attrition, the hiring freeze and the freeze on nonessential spending,” Baker says.

“PEF’s agency L-M chairs should contact management to find out exactly how much their agencies were told to cut spending and how they will try to do it,” she says.

PEF’s L-M Chairs Advisory Council will meet with Cetrino on January 10 to compare notes and see how the cuts are affecting members and services.

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PEF urging broader, better incentive
Members awaiting early retirement incentive offer

By SHERRY HALBROOK
The governor’s proposed early retirement incentive for state employees is sparking lots of interest among PEF members who are eager for details, but they won’t be established until the Legislature acts.

“Certain issues, such as the participation of SUNY, need to be negotiated before the legislators act,” says PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran.

A targeted incentive is proposed that would allow agency managers to determine which titles have positions they are willing to eliminate through the incentive. Managers could also target titles into which employees affected by layoff could be transferred or reassigned.

PEF is urging the state to eliminate the targeting aspect of the incentive, and open it to all employees who otherwise qualify.

The union contends a broad, generous incentive is the best way to encourage the maximum number of employees to retire early, and eliminate the risk of layoffs, involuntary transfers and deeper service cuts.

The basic incentive is one month of additional service for every year of credited pension service up to a maximum of three years additional retirement service credit. It’s available to employees 50 years old or older who have 10 years of credited pension service.

The incentive only adds to your years of service. If you retire at age 50 under the incentive, you would face the same penalties that exist in law today, plus an additional 5 percent penalty for each year that you are short of age 55. So, if you used the incentive to retire at age 50, you would be penalized 25 percent more than if you retired at age 55.

And if you are a member of Tier 2, 3 or 4 with less than 30 years of service credit, you would receive the standard 27 percent penalty for members of those tiers who retire before age 62. If the state cannot achieve enough staff reductions through the incentive, PEF will encourage the Legislature and governor to reduce this penalty.

As proposed, the incentive would protect PEF longevity awards if the member retires no more than 30 days prior to April 1st of that year. The program for state employees would be authorized through March 31, 2003 and the director of state operations would determine the timeline “windows” under which the incentive could be offered for state employees.