Here
is a wrapup of some city and state budget problems posted in various places
today. The wrapup culminates with a link to an online form where you can
suggest budget solutions for Illinois.
Situations like those appearing below are currently taking place in every
city, county, and state in the nation. Individually, the job cuts and
problems may seem small, but the cumulative impact, along with the tax hikes
that are coming will be enormous.
Nevada
Gaming industry
refuses to pay more to help solve state budget crisis
The
Nevada Resort Association announced Thursday night that the gaming industry
won't agree to a Democratic plan to obtain $32 million more a year from
casinos to help balance the state budget.
If Democrats can't get the casinos to agree to cough up more revenue, it puts
in jeopardy their whole budget-balancing plan that attempts to avoid deep
cuts in education and social services.
Key Republicans have said they won't support any revenue-raising plan that the
target industry doesn't accept.
Las
Vegas
Las Vegas city budget woes: 170 jobs on the
line
Thursday
was a difficult day at City Hall. About 170 workers are being told their jobs
are on the line.
Those layoffs are the result of a multi-million dollar budget shortfall. But
Mayor Oscar Goodman says it doesn’t have to be this way. He wants all
city workers to give up a little to save a lot.
The bad news was laid out by City Manager Betsy Fretwell and Goodman. A
looming $70 million deficit means services and jobs are about to be cut
unless the four major unions involved in city government agree to help out.
“We would much prefer everybody be a little bit altruistic, little bit
caring about fellow workers. And if they did what we’re proposing,
after all the cuts we’ve made, if they take and eight percent reduction
in salary then nobody’s going to lose their job,” said Mayor
Goodman.
Goodman says right now the city is in negotiations with the fire department
only. The other union contracts, such as for marshals and corrections
workers, aren’t up.
The
city should privatize the entire fire department. That would end the problem
in one simple step.
Peach County Georgia
Can a Four-Day
School Week Work?
Like
every school district in Georgia, Peach County was forced to cut their budget
by 3-percent. Clark says she had only two choices that could save that kind
of money: lay off 39 teachers, eliminating every art, music, and PE class
-OR-something never seen before in Georgia, go to a four-day school week.
Teachers now work four 10-hour days. The day for students is slightly longer
than an average 5-day school day, but there's no down time. Non-instructional
parts of the day have been cut out. Individual tutoring is widely attended
before and after class. The number of instructional minutes for students is
the same, in some cases even higher, than it used to be.
On Mondays, the schools close. Finding daycare was a big concern for critics
of the plan. Clark responded, "The mission of this school district is
not to provide daycare. The mission of this school district is to provide
students with an education. And while we have had the luxury of providing
daycare for the community five days a week, we don't have that luxury
anymore."
Rhode
Island
Plan to fire teachers roils RI's poorest city
The
blue-and-white banner exclaiming "anticipation" on the front of
Central Falls High School seems like a cruel joke for an institution so
chronically troubled that its leaders decided to fire every teacher by year's
end.
No more than half those instructors would be hired back under a federal
option that has enraged the state's powerful teachers union, earned criticism
from students, and brought praise from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan
and some parents.
The shake-up comes as Rhode Island's new education commissioner, Deborah
Gist, pushes the state to compete for millions of dollars in federal funding
to reform the worst 5 percent of its schools, including in Central Falls.
State law requires schools to warn teachers by March 1 if their jobs are in
jeopardy for the following school year.
To get the money, schools must choose one of four paths set under federal
law, including mass firings. Gallo has said she initially hope to avoid
layoffs by adopting a plan that would have lengthened the school day and
required teachers to get additional training and offer more after-school
tutoring.
The U.S. Department of Education does not play a role in deciding which model
schools choose and did not know Wednesday whether Central Falls was the first
to opt to get rid of its teachers, said Sandra Abrevaya, a department
spokeswoman.
The decision won praise from Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, a former math
teacher who supports Gist.
This
was the correct decision. Now those 50% (minimum) of the teachers who are out
of a job, can ponder the loss of their $78,000 over refusal to work another
35 minutes a day. The only thing surprising about the result is the support
from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
Mesa Arizona
Mesa budget woes
deepen; new deficit now $19.6 million
Mesa's
City Council learned Thursday morning they will have to slash spending by
another $19.6 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
City Manager Chris Brady said while collections for this fiscal year have
fallen about $16.4 million short of projections, there's enough money
in the bank to avoid further budget cuts between now and June 30.
A year ago, for example, when the city imposed an emergency spending
reduction of $61 million, some departments, such as parks, saw their budgets
sliced by 30 percent. Police and fire spending were reduced 5-7 percent.
That's
an amazing display of denial by City Manager Chris Brady, waiting until more
funds are depleted to act, and ignoring the fire department totally. It gets
worse: Mesa to offer free
all-day kindergarten despite budget woes.
Carbondale Illinois
Illinois budget problems felt at local
dentist office
What
happens if the boss cannot afford to pay you for a full week's work?
In most instances either you work a few days for nothing, or you do what many
places have been forced to do during hard times, such as one Carbondale
dentists' office.
It has become another victim of Illinois's $13 billion dollar budget crisis.
Recently staff members held their breath as they opened an e-mail from the
chief executive officer.
"I am hoping we'll be able to eliminate this uncertainty considering
furlough days in the near future. But at least we can extend the delay for
another two weeks," Shawnee Health Care Chief Executive Officer, Patsy
Jensen said as she read from a recently sent email.
Some 350 employees received that email. The subject is furlough days. Jensen
says she started these emails back in December. "If we can't meet our
payroll demands then we are going to ask our staff to take one day off a
week," Jensen said.
Shawnee Health Care has clinics in Carbondale, Marion, and Murphysboro. At
the Carbondale clinic, nearly 80% of dental patients are on Medicaid. In
Illinois, the state must match 50% of Medicaid dollars. However, Jensen says
due to Medicaid payments delays, many area dentists don't accept the program.
"We're at a minimum 90 days out," Jensen said about state Medicaid
payments.
Island
County Washington
Island
County’s 5-year budget projection is dismal
The
Island County budget director recently presented commissioners with a
worrisome five-year budget projection that shows reserve funds dwindling to
levels that could create cash flow problems in just a year or two.
“Island County is at a critical juncture. We have prided ourselves on
having the lowest tax rate in the state for years, now we’re suffering
the consequences of having the lowest tax rate. Do we want to continue with
that?” Commissioner Helen Price Johnson asked at a Monday morning
roundtable meeting with elected officials and department heads.
Over the last year and a half, county commissioners have dealt with $5.2
million in budget shortfalls — about a quarter of the current expense
fund — largely by cutting staff and dipping into reserve funds. More
than 55 positions have been cut. The budget is balanced for now, but the pain
may not be over.
Budget Director Elaine Marlow created two five-year budget projections. They
both estimate a low-level increase in revenues from taxes, fees and other
sources. One estimates a 2 percent overall increase in expenses from salary,
bases and benefits, while the other estimates twice that. Both estimates
assume that staff levels won’t increase and employees will not receive
cost-of-living increases.
Marlow projects that costs will significantly outweigh revenues in either
scenario. Next year, she predicts the budget will be out of whack by more
than $800,000. The deficit each year will slowly shrink as the economy
recovers. By 2015, the projection shows the deficit at $258,000.
The commissioners will have three basic choices: cut expenditures, use more
unreserved funds or raise taxes.
California
California State
Legislature Establishes 'Cuss Free Week'
Californians
had better start watching their mouths.
The state Assembly passed a resolution Thursday that would establish the first
week of March as "Cuss Free Week" throughout the state. If approved
by the Senate next week, the measure would take effect immediately.
The resolution includes no enforcement mechanism and is simply meant to
promote greater harmony and connectedness, said Assemblyman Anthony
Portantino, a Democrat from La Canada Flintridge and co-author of the
measure.
California
has serious pressing needs such as a $13 billion (and growing) budget deficit
and they waste time on this nonsense.
If you were looking for more proof at how dysfunctional California is, there
you have it. Of course with California, additional proof is offered every day
of the week.
Illinois
Illinois' budget problems, plans are online
for everyone to see
The
state of Illinois wants you to see its budget problems with your own eyes.
Budget numbers for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, as well as an estimated budget
for fiscal year 2011 are now posted online at budget.illinois.gov
Suggest
a Budget Solution
This is may not do much good but it sure can't hurt. Please Suggest a Budget Solution for Illinois.
Ideas To Consider
·
Lower
salaries for Illinois House and Senate members
·
Reduce
staff for representatives
·
Lower
salaries for judges
·
Lower
salaries for all administrative positions especially educational
·
Killing
all defined benefit pension plans
·
Insistence
on no tax hikes
·
Privatization
·
Constitutional
Convention to change union work rules and collective bargaining
·
Help
for cities by eliminating state mandates and work rules for police and fire
departments
You may not be heard, but this is your chance to speak. Say something.
Mish
GlobalEconomicAnalysis.blogspot.com
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