Oct 9, 2008 4:46 pm US/Eastern
6,000 State Employees Could Be Cut
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
While the global financial crisis and plummeting state revenues are forcing
Gov. Deval Patrick to prepare painful budget cuts, he says, "We're going to do it in a way that is thoughtful...that is surgical,"-- a fiscally conservative think tank says the doctor's scalpel won't cut deep enough, that a "cleaver" may be needed to chop state spending by $600 million to $1 billion.
WBZ's Ron Sanders spent the day at the State House where the weather outside is better than the forecast under the golden dome.
"Like 'The Perfect Storm,' the movie," said one lawmaker outside the House chamber.
Jim Stergios is executive director of the Pioneer Institute, the non-profit, non-partisan research group calling for the "cleaver" rather than the "scalpel" approach to budget cuts such as:
- 6,000 State jobs for savings above $357 million;
- the Quinn Bill, which gives police financial incentives for getting master's degrees, a savings of about $50 million;
- and budget earmarks, $40 million in savings.
Stergios says, "I think, frankly, the Senate and the House would be very comfortable if the Governor said 'I'll take the heat and we'll go back to lower employment levels that we had 4 or 5 years ago.'"
"By 6,000 jobs?" Sanders asked.
"By 6,000 jobs," Stergios said.
"Seems like an enormous impact," Sanders said.
"It's a huge impact but, again, it's huge growth," Stergios said.
Rep. Brian Wallace (D) South Boston says, "There are going to be layoffs, no question about it. How deep and how severe? You know, we're going to have to wait and see."
House Minority Bradley Jones, (R) North Reading, says, "I think clearly the number of positions is going to be on the table."
Jones seems to echo some Democrats on the Quinn Bill too.
Wallace says, "That gets dicey because of union situations."
Jones says, "It's a little more dicey because it's a contractual obligation."
Solutions may be dicey, too. Wallace says, "Casinos maybe still be on the table."
If there's consensus across the aisle and between the branches, it's that local aid cuts would be a last resort; but as the time for cuts gets closer, the leadership makes it clear: everything is on the table.
As for cutting earmarks, Patrick has already talked about saving tens of millions that way.
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