Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 16, 1995 TAG: 9504170057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND NOTE: STRIP LENGTH: Long
Motorists in Montgomery County may not see the consequences of an impending mass exodus of state workers until next winter, when the first serious snowfall blankets Southwest Virginia.
Will they have to wait longer for scaled-back Department of Transportation crews to clear the roads?
Gov. George Allen is betting that people in Montgomery County won't notice a lick of difference in snow removal. The Republican chief executive is equally confident that residents across Virginia won't miss the 4,000 or so state workers who will quit or retire at the end of this month under a voluntary buyout program.
"Services will be continued," Allen said recently. "It'll just be more efficient for the taxpayers at less cost."
Critics predict that the job reductions - equivalent to about 4 percent of the state work force - will result in slower and perhaps less competent services.
They say students at community colleges could have to wait longer to find out if their credits transfer; crime victims may have their day in court postponed because of backlogs in state forensic laboratories; and homeowners along the Chesapeake Bay may face delays in getting state permits to build piers.
Details of the Workforce Transition Act will be released Monday. More than 7,000 state employees have applied for a one-time offer of severance benefits approved this year by the General Assembly. Allen administration officials said Friday they have not finished processing the applications, but preliminary indications are that close to half the requests could be denied because the employees either provide "essential" services or work for colleges and universities covered under separate reorganization plans.
Bob Lauterberg, Allen's budget director, said the denials are necessary to avoid repeating mistakes made in a 1991 early retirement plan crafted by then-Gov. Douglas Wilder. The earlier payroll-cutting measure ended up costing taxpayers because the state had to replace three-fourths of the retiring workers to keep up with the demand for services.
There's no point, Lauterberg said, in paying workers a premium to leave if the state will then have to foot the bill for replacements. Under the new plan, agencies will be barred from hiring replacements.
The Workforce Transition Act will be the first major test of Allen's effort to reshape state government, a massive enterprise with $16.7 billion in annual revenues and 108,500 employees.
Allen is driven by his conviction that state government is bloated with entrenched bureaucrats and riddled with inefficiency. His "Blue Ribbon Strike Force" has recommended slashing the state's work force by 15 percent - 16,000 positions - over the next three years.
The strike force concluded that state agencies could cut back and continue to provide the same level of service or, in some cases, turn operations over to the private sector.
Democratic lawmakers caution that Allen may find it difficult to cut workers at a time when demand for services is rising, particularly in the areas of corrections and higher education.
Del. Jay DeBoer, a Petersburg Democrat and an unflinching Allen critic, said the need to fill vacancies after 3,200 workers took early retirement four years ago demonstrates that state government may not be as corpulent as the governor would have the public believe.
"I am not aware of any state agency that has added additional employees over the last decade just for the fun of it," DeBoer said. "The notion of `lazy overpaid state workers tripping over each other' is provably false."
The test will come after May 1, when thousands of state employees don't report to work. Whether Virginians will know the difference depends on state agencies' ability to adjust by shifting resources. Some smaller departments could lack the flexibility of such large departments as transportation and mental health services.
For instance, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission could lose nearly 10 percent of its 160 employees, who provide services such as law enforcement, commercial fishing licenses and habitat management.
"It's going to mean a few people are going to have to pitch in and do more," commission spokesman Wilford Kale said. "It's our hope that we are able to deliver as many of these services as quickly as possible."
There is also the possibility that some agencies will lose clusters of workers in some sections, while others emerge virtually unscathed.
"Are you going to have short staff here and too much staff over there?'' asked Joan Dent, director of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association. "It will mean poor delivery of public services."
The large response to the buyout - 7,519 employees, or nearly 7 percent of the work force - took Allen administration officials by surprise.
Lauterberg, who had anticipated about 6,000 applications, attributed the heavy response to the lucrative benefits. Workers who leave receive a lump payment of $5,000, plus severance pay of up to 9 months' salary based on years of service. Workers who are 50 or older also can qualify for early retirement.
Interviews with several state employees indicated that workers' bitterness about their fate under Allen also played a role in the unexpected rush to take the buyout.
For instance, some 79 of 780 workers applied for the buyout at the Department of Environmental Quality, an agency targeted for significant job cuts - and possible layoffs - later this year.
One long-time DEQ employee said she hoped to leave because she was tired of the criticism that Allen has heaped on state employees. The woman - who spoke on condition that her name not be used - said DEQ could lose some of its most talented, experienced employees.
"You'd have to wait and see," she said, ``but I think that the typical negative stereotype of lazy bureaucrats is largely what will be left behind.''
The Virginia Department of Transportation could shed some 1,300 workers, or about 12 percent of the agency's staff.
"The department is not going to function like it used to," said Buddy Taylor, the head traffic engineer for the VDOT Salem District - and a buyout applicant. "A lot of the work is going to have to be done by the private sector."
In Christiansburg, VDOT could lose 10 of 80 machine operators who, among other things, are responsible for plowing snow in Montgomery, Pulaski and Giles counties.
David Clarke, assistant resident engineer, said his office would need more money either to fill some of the vacancies or to hire private contractors. VDOT already hires out some mowing during summer, he said.
The question for motorists is whether private crews - who would have to be on call 24 hours a day throughout the winter - would be as reliable as state workers.
The answer won't be known until the snow flies.
by CNB