States Cut Small Programs To Balance Budgets

[ChromeFoundry]

Source: AP

Lawmakers Look For Ways To Save As New Fiscal Year Begins

4:09 pm EDT July 14, 2009

JACKSON, Miss. -- South Dakota eliminated grants for mosquito spraying. Illinois stopped paying for funerals for the poor. Kansas reduced mowing along highways and turned off air conditioning in government buildings earlier than usual.

As states across the nation struggle to balance their budgets, lawmakers are seeking savings any way they can, even if it means nickel-and-dime cuts in basic services.

Since the recession began, many states have slashed spending by billions of dollars. Now legislators in all 50 states are looking for still more cuts as they confront a $121 billion shortfall for the new fiscal year that began July 1.

"I think it's easy to understand when you think about your own personal finances," said Ian Pulsipher, a policy specialist in Denver with the National Conference of State Legislatures. "If you could imagine your own income decreasing by a very large amount in one year, you can imagine the kinds of changes you would have to make."

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/money/20052524/detail.html

[OhioChick]

1. Nice to hear that things are going so swimmingly.

:sarcasm:

[MichiganVote]

2. Anything but raising taxes on Master Rich Man and the Corporations.

[liberal N proud]

3. Reduced mowing along highways and turned off air conditioning...

Not bad for the environment either.

[Iowa]

4. Pfft... That's not where the real money is.

As a state employee (now retired) I saw massive amounts of money wasted on overpaid, under-worked management. There are legions of these folks earning $100,000+ who produce absolutely nothing of value, who get in the way, who slow things down, and who waste everyone else's time trying to justify their existence. Not only do they produce nothing, they're a millstone around the necks of front-line workers. They wreck morale, decrease productivity, and almost always focus on "numbers" instead of meeting the real needs of the people they're supposed to be serving. Their idea of "work" is generating endless meetings about nothing. I was involved in a professional area of state work - I doubt that it's any better in the blue-collar departments, but I have no experience there.

If states were really serious about fixing problems they would: 1) raise taxes on high earners, and 2) either slash the numbers of managers in state jobs, or put them to work on the front lines.

[No Elephants]

5. That was my first thought on seeing this thread, too. But less mowing along highways seems more

than reasonable, too. One thing need not preclude the other.