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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 18, 1995                   TAG: 9504180142
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

STATE TO BUY OUT 5,471 EMPLOYEES

Gov. George Allen announced Monday that his administration had approved three-quarters of the applications that flooded in after the state offered an employee buyout program.

Allen restated his confidence that state agencies, like companies in the private sector, can shed thousands of employees without sacrificing services.

The downsizing effort is expected to exceed $100 million a year in eliminated salaries, though the exact number may not be known for months.

The Allen administration put the savings between $160 million and $180 million, assuming that none of the 5,471 positions would be refilled.

Secretary of Administration Mike Thomas acknowledged, however, that state agencies have been given permission to refill about 400 slots, and that public colleges and universities are seeking the authority to replace nearly 800 of 1,228 employees accepted into the buyout plan.

What is definite is that the state's payroll will shrink by at least 4,300, or nearly 4 percent of the overall work force of 108,500.

Allen has set a three-year goal of reducing the work force by 15 percent.

Here are some statistical highlights of the 1995 Workforce Transition Act:

The Department of Transportation will lose 1,226 employees, or about 11 percent of its staff. Thomas said much of VDOT's work will be parceled out to the private sector. ``The idea is to put money into building roads, not into personnel,'' he said.

Other depleted agencies will be Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse (643 workers); Department of Health (378); and the Department of Motor Vehicles (252).

A number of smaller agencies accepted 100 percent of buyout applications, but the lowest acceptance rate was achieved by the tiny Jamestown/Yorktown Foundation, which approved only 1 of 6 applications.

At Virginia Tech, 240 out of 293 buyout applications, or 82 percent, were accepted.

At Radford University, 58 out of 58 were accepted.

At Virginia Military Institute, 27 out of 27 were accepted.

In the entire statewide community college system, 82 out of 212 were accepted.

Staff writer Ann Donahue provided information for this story.