Andrew Cuomo Could Cut 15,000 State Workers' Jobs

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering cutting as many as 15,000 state workers in an effort to shrink the state's $9 billion budget gap.

The workforce reductions would also likely be accompanied by substantial reductions in Medicaid and education spending, according to two people briefed on the budget who spoke with the New York Times.

From the Times:

But the cuts would represent a substantial downsizing of the state's workforce, including clerical workers, state troopers and park rangers. And that belt-tightening would almost certainly be accompanied by noticeable reductions in government services, though it is hard to predict where and how much until Mr. Cuomo releases his proposed budget in early February.

The cuts are likely to be fiercely contested by state labor unions. But so far, union representatives have held their fire until the governor's plan is released.

"We're not going to respond to speculation at this point, said Stephen Madarasz, a spokesman for the Civil Services Employees Association. "When he has a proposal to make, we'll respond to it appropriately. Abstract numbers without any context don't tell us very much."

The job cuts under consideration would be the largest in at least 15 years.

It was unclear how they would be achieved, but they could come through a combination of attrition, early retirement incentives and layoffs.

Cuomo has repeatedly bucked calls for tax increases to help close the budget gap, and has also pushed for a property tax cap.

Comments

[BevfromNYC]

02:08 PM on 01/20/2011

Well, talking ain't doin'. I will believe it when the recalcitrant Mr. Silver agrees. Until then, nothing is going to change.

[hjo4]

02:07 PM on 01/20/2011

Now the lies are that pensions and salaries are the cause of all the budget woes of NYS.Hogwash this state is NOT doing all it can to save money for instance NYS is sanctuary State for illegal aliens and have a "don't ask, don't tell" regarding applicants who apply for public services such as Section 8,Medicaid, and stipends. How can the Governor or Mayor expect legal tax paying citizens to accept reduced services and less wages if the do not make the hard decisions like enforcing the immigration laws. We are supposedly broke and the benefits that illegal aliens receive are very costly to the State and cities in New York.I understand some are sympathetic to the illegal alien community but we can no longer afford to shoulder them. You cannot ask citizens to sacrifice while sustaining those who have no legal right or standing to be in America,never mind collect benefits. It's not fair to ask that of New Yorkers.

[francny]

03:55 PM on 02/01/2011

Sorry, but you are wrong. As a volunteer I have helped a ton of people apply for Medicaid. Have you actually seen for yourself the application? Guess not, because you have to state your status, i.e., citizen or non-citizen, whether you have a green card or not. That is not a "don't ask, don't tell". It is alson the application for any federal housing program, both section 8 and HUD. I do agree however, that illegal aliens are a huge strain on the state's budget. I have had the same personal doctor for 10 years and now considering changing. Why? Because they expanded his office and provide medical care to any illegal in this area. The cost is billed to the state and now I have to wait sometimes an hour and a half to see the doctor I have seen for years. I do not get the same quality care and I am not on medicaid, rather a private insurance plan. The value of that care has gone down because they are one of the few doctors office that will currently accept medicaid. Every single sign now in that office is in spanish. Their phone recording has a spanish recording first and then English. This is multiplied in NYC. The state can not continue to shoulder this burden and pass it on the taxpayers. No wonder people are really get fed up with those here illegally. It's a no win situation. Yes, I am a Democrat.

[AllieGoogle]

01:14 PM on 01/20/2011

Gee - this Democrat is starting to sound like that nearby Republican Governor in NJ - property tax caps and cutting state worker expenses..........

[cassie reinara]

01:42 PM on 01/20/2011

Based on that, he should soon be doing the national circuit to be a dark horse candidate for POTUS. Does he have any tunnel projects he can cancel, too?

[gsmp]

01:11 PM on 01/20/2011

If those jobs come from attrition and early retirement, I'm onboard. Let's get rid of some of the hundreds of 'Autorities' that have been created by past governors over the last forty years. Those jobs were filled by 'appointment', had ZERO accountability to the voters and usually consisted of political cronies, family members etc. While we're at it, let's look at the Empire Zone debaucle. No more tax breaks for businesses that DO NOT HIRE or re-incarnate themselves for the sake of defrauding the tax payers. Lot's of places to cut before looking at jobs from the public, essential services; unless you want to privatize the dept. of drainage and sanitation. Feel free to install an outhouse. Maybe the snowplows should scale back. Oops. That didn't work out so well for NYC just recently. Right now, there is a car in the ditch in front of my property. Someone couldn't handle the snow last night. Maybe I should have just thrown the driver a towel instead of calling 911.

I'm all for intelligent cuts.

[kisimick]

01:28 PM on 01/20/2011

Cut the public sector unions by 10%...only thing noticable would be decreased payroll expenses and increaded productivity. The snowplows didnt work well in NYC? UNION slowdowns and sickouts. NYS has the highest % of public employees to residents of any state in the country.

[Parsifals]

01:11 PM on 01/20/2011

Many NYS agencies have had hiring freezes for 5 or 6 years because of severe deficients in budgets and reduced funding from the Federal Government. Early retirements have also been active at least at the DOH.

It won't be an easy task to cut 15,000 jobs across the board, but probably some additional cuts could be made if careful scrutiny is used by the Governor and his staff, with input from the agencies themselves.

[kisimick]

01:30 PM on 01/20/2011

NY wants all those workers...let NYS pay for them and not expect the fed govt ( taxpayers) to send more $$.

[Parsifals]

01:36 PM on 01/20/2011

No State will be able to take on some of those obligations because they aren't receiving the revenue in the first place. We can't have it both ways: the federal income tax has been the means to fund programs.

[nyjjc]

06:51 PM on 01/20/2011

Given that NY doesn't get back what it pays out in Feds in tax dollars because we have to support the red states, I fail to see where you make a valid point.

[AyeChart]

01:11 PM on 01/20/2011

I never would have believed it:  It seems that liberals can sometimes face reality!  It's a miracle, Lord!

[kisimick]

01:31 PM on 01/20/2011

Looks like part of his brain came back after his ex kennedy wife tossed him out. Lets see him close down OTB and other money losing state debacles quickly.

[jerzygurl]

12:21 PM on 01/20/2011

I wonder how this will play out in the Liberal media? Stay tuned, for updates!

[AllieGoogle]

01:15 PM on 01/20/2011

Yep - cuz this guy is a liberal but sounds like he's takin lessons from Chris Christie

[jerzygurl]

01:30 PM on 01/20/2011

He's only one of the first. Watch as other Dems start doing the same fiscal cuts & watch what a different spin the Libs put on it.

[argus4]

11:28 AM on 01/20/2011

Governor Cuomo sets a fine, if partial example. Now can we get the Congress to do likewise? Surely, one of them has, or can get, the number of federal employees in the various departments. After studying the pertinence of those employees to the mission of the departments, reductions in staff are in order.

Until Congress recognizes the problem and stops trying to make Potemkin village cuts, we will get nowhere. Members of Congress may not be contemplating it, but judging from the available information on their assets, neither they nor their successors need, and certainly these do-nothings-about-the-deficit, do not deserve a raise in their own salaries. In fact, if it were legal, they should all take substantive cuts in their salaries, reduce the number of their staff, etc., to let the American people know that they, too, are aware of the spending & deficit problems and intend to make a personal sacrifice as an example to their constituents.

If the cuts mean more work, let them do as many of those teaching in the public schools have been compelled by circumstances to do, take the money out of their own pockets. Perhaps they might be able to arrange their tax situations so as to take advantage of our tax laws (which they should reform) to deduct those monies as a business expense.