The state needs to re-guage its budget priorities

The state needs to re-gauge its budget priorities

It’s a known fact – when the economy is suffering, people suffer. Now, more than ever, many New Yorkers are turning to state services for assistance, some of them for the first time.

Yet, as the demand for services increases, the number of public servants who provide them is decreasing.

Since 2008, the state work force has been cut by 4,500 positions. If the proposed budget is 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.

The New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) understands we are in difficult economic times and wants to be part of the solution. PEF has submitted a plan to state lawmakers that can save the state hundreds of millions of dollars without cutting state services.

This can be achieved by:
• Instituting a consultant-reduction plan to save $656 million over the next three years.

• Expanding the voluntary severance program to save up to $120 million.

• Instituting a Workplace Injury Reduction Program to reduce workers compensation costs and save $45 million.

• Reducing overtime costs by 60 percent by hiring entry-level state employees for a savings of $33.5 million annually.

Call lawmakers today at 1-877-255-9417. Tell them to cut the waste, not the workers.

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