State Employees Bite the Bullet…again

MoonHowler

Governor McDonnell had a town hall meeting today  with state employees to deliver some sobering news. 

There will be no pay raises next year and state employees will have to pony up a portion  of the VRS contribution.  (Has that passed the General Assembly yet?)   According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

He did not say how much but cited a Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission report that found the Virginia Retirement System and other state-supported pension plans have unfunded liabilities of $17.6 billion.

The state has been paying employees’ 5 percent share since 1983. When a state employee at the town-hall forum pointed out that that payment began in lieu of a pay raise, McDonnell said “you are exactly right” but said the state employees will have to begin making a “shared sacrifice.”

What is a” shared sacrifice?”  Who else is sharing this sacrifice?  McDonnell did share some good news after the double whammy.  He informed state workers that there would be no furloughs and health insurance would not go up.  The furloughs were particularly troublesome in the past. 

The good news is, people still have jobs. 

Has pay been frozen for the General Assembly and for the executive branch of the state government? 

This was the first town hall meeting for state employees.  Most employees said that they appreciated the candor.  Those who were not present could view the town hall meeting on the governor’s website. 

McDonnell Applies for 287(g) for State Troopers

MoonHowler

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Gov. Bob McDonnell this week formally requested that the Department of Homeland Security authorize some Virginia State Police troopers to perform functions of federal immigration officers.

The request, which was sent in a letter dated Aug. 10 to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, follows conversations since February on the subject between McDonnell’s administration and federal authorities.

McDonnell is requesting that homeland security enters into a so-called 287g agreement with the state, a pact that at least seven jurisdictions in Virginia already have in some form.

“The [memorandum of understanding] would include how participating State Police personnel will be nominated, trained, authorized and supervised in performing the immigration enforcement functions specified in the agreement,” McDonnell writes in the letter released today by his office.

“We contemplate addressing those aliens who are engaged in major drug offenses or violent offenses such as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and kidnapping, as well as DUI offenses.”

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Lowlights of the Governor’s Budget Recommendations

MoonHowler

The Governor’s budget recommendations were released today.  According to Governor McDonnell:

“All the cuts give me heartburn,” McDonnell said at a news conference. “All of them were difficult because I know that behind every cut there is a Virginian . . . that might be affected.”

Some of the lowlights from the governor’s cuts are as follows:

  • $730 million in reductions to k-12 education
  • Up to 10 unpaid furlough days for state workers
  • Freezing enrollment in a health insurance program for low income children and pregnant women
  • Increased employment contribution to the state pension program.
  • Eliminate funding for the state school breakfast program for low income children.

Some of the highlights include 

On the other side of the employees’ proposed unpaid days off, McDonnell wants to give them a 3 percent Christmas bonus in December 2011.

He also wants to eliminate former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s proposal under which state employees would be required to contribute 1 percent of their salaries to their retirement plans in fiscal 2011 and 2 percent in fiscal 2012.

Details haven’t been worked out and there are definitely other programs on the chopping block.  The General Assembly now has to get down to business. According to House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem in the Richmond Times Dispatch:

McDonnell’s recommendations were welcome.
 
“We all are going to have a lot of tough decisions,” Griffith said. “Ours may not be the same tough decisions the governor makes, but we’re all trying to get to the best budget we can get with the money we have and all ideas are.”
 

Griffith also agreed with the governor about unfreezing the LCI formula. according to the Roanoke Times.

House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, defended McDonnell’s decision to lift a proposed freeze on adjusting the state’s local composite index school funding formula. The composite index measures a locality’s ability to pay for its public schools, and Kaine had proposed delaying an adjustment to the formula in his December budget. Lifting the freeze will steer more money to Northern Virginia at the expense of other localities, but Griffith said the governor is right to propose the change.

“If we start saying when it benefits another region of the state that we don’t like it, then in a couple of years they may do away with it and we’ll be getting the short end of the stick,” Griffith said. “It’s helped us for 30 years. It hurts us this year. But I suspect it will help us for 30 years in the future, and messing with it and playing games with it in a single year is foolish.”

Much will unfold over the next week or so as far as budget cuts.  Most of us will be unhappy over something.  People will attempt to defend their own turfs.  In most cases it won’t always be possible.  However, these are tough times and we knew it was coming.  Feel free to add to the list in this thread as we find out more proposals by the governor or the General Assembly.

Washington Post Editorial: Governor McDonnell

MoonHowler

Today’s Washington Post Editorial pointed out many positive attributes of Governor McDonnell, who was sworn in today at noon in Richmond at the State Capitol. It is a worthwhile read so therefore will be reprinted in its entirety.

GOV. ROBERT F. MCDONNELL — he sheds the hyphenated “-elect” at noon Saturday — has struck many of the right chords in the run-up to his inauguration as Virginia’s 71st governor. His performance during the transition, at once wary of partisan triumphalism and mindful of the state’s grave challenges, has been as focused, disciplined and effective as his successful electoral campaign last fall. That has set the stage for him to lead a state that, despite solid past management and a wealth of natural advantages, is reeling from a national economic downturn.

A key to Mr. McDonnell’s success in setting a constructive tone so far has been his cabinet appointments. In electing to retain Rick Brown, who has been Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s finance secretary, the incoming governor has opted for stability and continuity in the area of state government that needs it most. And in tapping former Prince William County Board chairman Sean Connaughton as his transportation secretary, he has picked a proven, able and pragmatic administrator to focus on Virginia’s most urgent problem: its badly overwhelmed transportation network. It remains to be seen whether Mr. McDonnell, who pledged to address the transportation crisis in his first year in office, will, in fact, deliver a critically needed plan to generate fresh and dependable new funding to build roads and bridges.

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