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Testimony
of (as prepared)
Specifically, the Governor's budget proposes a 'workforce reduction' of nearly 5,000 state employees including 1,890 workers who have left state government and have not been replaced due to as strict two-year hiring freeze; an anticipated 3,000 more jobs cut through layoffs and an early retirement plan with unrealistic backfill cap. Additionally, the Governor's budget proposes a 10.5% cut in municipal aid which will almost certainly mean layoffs in law enforcement, firefighting and township services, especially in the small towns across our state.
What
exactly is the Governor's budget proposing to cut?
The
Governor's budget disproportionately impacts certain agencies and
does nothing to target political appointees, private subcontractors,
high-priced consultants, waste, inefficiency and corruption. Instead,
this is a budget which short-sightedly closes state parks---and
in doing so threatens our state's $34 billion-dollar-a year tourist
industry; it reduces night and weekend hours at motor vehicles offices---and
in doing so inconveniences the millions of working people in our
state; it eliminates hundreds of staff at Law and Public Safety---and
in doing so further weakens an agency many see as problematically
understaffed; and it adversely and shamefully impacts such critical
programs as employment services for returning veterans from the
Iraq war.
This
budget proposal is not "smart fiscal policy". It is what
we call "head count politics". This is a budget which
eliminates the Department of Agriculture, an extraordinarily well
run agency which proudly and effectively serves the farming community
of our "Garden State" with excellence. This is a budget
which inexplicably eliminates the Commerce Commission, an agency
charged with attracting sorely needed new business and new jobs
to New Jersey at a time when our economy is facing recession and
more--not fewer--jobs are key to its recovery. This is a budget
which specifically attacks the Department of Environmental Protection,
demanding a 12.5 percent budget cut and the elimination of 200 to
300 jobs.
Our
Local represents the majority of the workers at DEP. I can assure
you that the agency is still reeling from major cutbacks during
the Whitman Administration, when its budget was cut by a third and
nearly 25% of its staff were laid off. Those cuts were never fully
restored and the hiring freeze in place since 2006 has even further
weakened the agency's effectiveness. The proposed Corzine cuts to
Environmental Protection will continue to damage the already weakened
agency, potentially endanger the public health and prevent the DEP
from truly functioning as it should to protect our environment and
our State's citizens.
At
the same time, an incredible amount of state funds are being spent
on private consultants--$250,000 spent on a consultant to write
the Highlands Plan,--$250,000 spent on a consultant to rewrite the
State Plan, ---$1 million spent on a politically connected engineering
firm to write a watershed plan…and the list goes on. This work could
have been performed in-house for less money and with an eye to protecting
citizens rather than the special interests and polluters.
As
was reported by the Sierra Club, if the state is short on funds
why did it eliminate a toxic air tax on polluters that raised $7
million a year for DEP to use for environmental programs that mitigated
the damage? Why did the State cut a $700 million-dollar-a-year tax
on corporations, resulting in an annual $28 million dollar loss
of revenue for the DEP? Why is the state spending more than $100
million dollars a year on temporary employees?
At
the same time that the Governor's budget proposes to cut thousands
of full-time jobs of hard-working state, judicial and local government
employees, the state has 8,000 employees on the TES (temporary employee
services) list performing their work. Additionally, thousands of
political appointees remain on the books and private consultants
and subcontractors continue to perform state employee work at significantly
higher costs.
We
call this the 'hidden government' since these political appointments,
consultants and temporary workers are hidden from the published
'head count'. Every Governor has boasted of 'reducing the size of
the state workforce' by eliminating state worker jobs but then turned
around and hired more private consultants and more temporary employees
(TES) to do their work under the radar. This 'head count' system
is a sham and it ultimately shortchanges the public that deserves
quality public services from qualified staff.
Our
members are dedicated public servants who want to serve New Jersey
and to be a part of the solution for our collective success as a
State. For decades, our union has opposed short-sighted fiscal policies,
such as the State's complete failure to fund the public worker pension
for nearly a dozen years. We have continually proposed and supported
progressive revenue strategies, identified myriad ways to cut waste
and inefficiency, and tightened our belts at the bargaining table.
Hard-working public workers-middle class families--should not, once
again, be the failsafe scapegoats in the budget process. And finally,
the public that we serve should not be penalized for government's
failed fiscal past and suffer the brunt of hurtful cuts to public
services which will have long-term and negative impacts.
Thank you for your time.
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