
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991                   TAG: 9103250222
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FURLOUGH COULD BE QUITE A HARDSHIP

IN RESPONSE to James G. Shell's letter (March 4): All state employees are not like the Fosbres (letter, Feb. 14). There are those who are single parents, heads of household, etc., who do not make $50,000 a year. A 15-day furlough would be a hardship indeed.

It is one thing to make tough choices and another to make politically pleasing choices to advance oneself. It makes more sense to tax everyone in the state (state employees pay taxes too) than furlough approximately 100,000 state employees. We could realistically raise the sales tax one-half cent to 5 cents. That wouldn't be too great a hardship on anyone.

State employees have already lost their 2 percent raise. For us, that would have just about covered the amount our Blue Cross/Blue Shield went up last July. It went up again in January.

Our take-home pay has decreased. We will not get an increase before 1992/93. But prices on goods and services continue to rise.

State employees, for the most part, are about 12 percent behind the private sector in workers compensation. This is according to a survey reported by the Virginia State Police Association president, Kyle Miller. Our "guaranteed" raises are at the discretion of whoever is in office. This is not the first time state employee raises have been frozen.

I am very sorry for anyone who does not have a job and lacks the basics to live on. But I don't believe in penalizing a select few to benefit the whole, either.

RITA JOHNSON

BEDFORD

by CNB