THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 10, 1995 TAG: 9512100157
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS AND LISE OLSEN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 295 lines
Despite a setback at the polls last month, Gov. George F. Allen already has accomplished a subtle reshaping of state government - a transformation that has occurred in part without legislative direction, an analysis of state payroll data suggests.
Though Allen says his agenda has been thwarted by the Democratic General Assembly, he has used his administrative and legislative prowess to trim the bureaucracy and reallocate portions of the state's payroll in ways that highlight his priorities.
According to the computer analysis, the executive branch work force shrank by 6 percent between December 31, 1993 - just before Allen took office - and July 15, 1995. The state's $2.8 billion payroll was down about 8 percent when adjusted for inflation.
Generally, the analysis shows, social services have lost the most resources. Prisons - which have benefited from support in the Democrat-controlled legislature, as well as from Allen - show the greatest gains.
As of July, one out of every four workers at the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse had lost or left their jobs since Allen took office 18 months earlier.
One out of every five was gone from the Department of Environmental Quality and the central office of the Department of Education. Since July, the Education Department figure has grown to one of three.
And the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs - which had a staff of 13 - is now down to three.
Meanwhile, payrolls have swelled at nearly every prison across the state.
Opinions on whether Allen's reductions have cut the muscle or the fat from agency programs vary, based on ideas about what the role of government should be and how to run it wisely and efficiently.
Allen's cuts come on top of some recession-era downsizing by the Wilder administration as it struggled to balance the state budget in January 1990-January 1994.
``The priorities are very punitive in this administration,'' said Val Marsh, executive director of the Virginia Alliance for the Mentally Ill, decrying cuts in agencies such as the Department for the Rights of Virginians with Disabilities and the mental health department. ``It's a further indication of a lack of watchguarding of the health and welfare of very vulnerable people.''
Kenneth Stroupe, Allen's spokesman, sees the matter differently. ``We've tried to look for areas where there was waste or inefficiency, and we could operate at less cost to taxpayers,'' he said, noting that such downsizing is sweeping corporate America.
``When you look at this in a one-dimensional way, the impression it gives is not an accurate one,'' he said of the numbers highlighting cuts in social services. ``When you see a minus number next to a social program, it somehow suggests that this is not important to the administration.''
The better explanation is that such an agency offered an opportunity for streamlining and efficiency, he said. ``The sacred cow is to not inhibit services.''
Payroll is not the only measure of change under Allen, an activist Republican who has pledged to turn state government into a leaner, more narrowly focused force.
Equally critical are the overall budgets of each agency. That portion of Allen's vision will become clearer later this month when he recommends a spending plan for the next two years.
But shifts in the state work force are a telling indicator, and perhaps predictor, of how priorities are being reset.
A ``Blue Ribbon Strike Force'' appointed by Allen as his first official act in office recommended trimming the state's work force by about 15 percent. Holding to that goal, Allen announced a freeze on hiring last December and, with legislative approval, later offered a lucrative buyout package to workers willing to leave the state work force.
The computer analysis shows the impact of those actions on the permanent work force of the 125 agencies in the executive branch. It does not measure the use of temporary employees. Among the findings:
Four of five agencies under the secretary of health and human resources experienced payroll cuts. Nine of the 25 agencies with the largest payroll decline fall under that secretariat, more than for any other Cabinet member, the study shows.
Three of four of the agencies under the secretary of public safety - including all but one of the existing prisons - had payroll increases. The exception was Mecklenberg Correctional Center, where the payroll dropped less than 1 percent. Of the 25 state agencies with the biggest payroll increases, 13 involve public safety.
Several high-profile education agencies - including the central offices of the Department of Education and the State Council of Higher Education - had major personnel cuts. But, partly because several community colleges increased their payroll, education's share of the overall payroll budget remained stable.
Since Allen took office, the upper echelons of state government - where a governor is most likely to directly affect hiring - have more white and more male employees. Among state employees making $75,000 or more, 6 percent of those hired during the Allen administration have been African Americans, compared with 11 percent under Wilder. Twenty-two percent of highly paid workers hired under Allen have been women, compared with 28 percent hired under Wilder.
While the number of permanent employees in executive branch agencies dipped from 96,287 to 90,471, the staffs of Allen's Cabinet members grew. As of July, the Cabinet payroll had jumped 29 percent over Wilder's - the fifth highest percentile increase for any department.
Since summer, most Cabinet officers have reduced their staffs to pre-Allen levels, partly because of legislative criticism, but the number of such employees is still about 11 percent higher than under Wilder.
The largest increase is in the office of Secretary of Commerce and Trade Robert Skunda, which had nine employees in late October, compared with four at the end of the Wilder administration. That shift reflects Allen's emphasis on creating jobs throughout the state, the administration says.
Stroupe said the Cabinet increases that showed up in the July payroll data base stemmed from efforts to save money by consolidating policy and public relations jobs that were spread throughout various agencies.
The varying reactions to cuts at the Department of Education are typical of those involving other agencies.
Noting that staffing levels in the central office have been cut almost 50 percent since the beginning of Wilder's term, Board of Education Chairman James Jones of Abingdon said, ``My impression is, frankly, it has hurt.''
Jones, a former Democratic lawmaker, said he views the Richmond office as a service network that particularly aids rural and urban school districts that lack the resources of many suburban schools.
``I've had local school superintendents (in the poorer districts) tell me they feel a loss of assistance,'' he said.
Dr. William C. Bosher Jr., who heads the department, said his staff has worked hard to make sure that vital services aren't affected. He has achieved the reductions in several ways: eliminating organizational layers, including deputy and assistant superintendents; cutting functions such as the research department; and turning support staff in areas such as English or history into more of a referral service than a hands-on instructional force.
``Anybody can reduce staff,'' he said. ``The real goal is to reduce staff and maintain a sense of dignity and purpose.''
Kim Coble, senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, lamented cuts in the Department of Environmental Quality, which was formed in 1993 by merging agencies responsible for water, air and waste management.
Her organization's concerns about pollution monitoring predate the Allen administration, and the additional ``reduction in personnel is only going to weaken their program,'' she said.
Allen spokesman Stroupe noted that, even with a cut of 160 employees, the environmental department still has a work force of 664. Can they manage with that number? ``I think they probably can,'' he said.
For many, the choice between efficiency and need is a difficult one.
``Sometimes you don't know what your priorities are until you've reduced several times,'' said Bosher, citing a popular management theory.
Jamie Ruppman of Vienna, the parent of a 24-year-old autistic son, is a Republican who voted for Allen but still has difficulty with the cuts in services to the disabled.
``You hear in the press that Allen has cut this or that, that it's going to make government more streamlined and more responsive, but that's not the way it feels,'' she said. ``It feels like there are some people who are not very important.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
STATE PAYROLL BUDGETS COMPARED
ALLEN'S PAYROLL AND THE DIFFERENCE FROM WILDER'S
WHERE HAS GOVERNOR ALLEN PUT HIS PAYROLL MONEY?
SOURCES: A Virginian-Pilot analysis of state payroll information
from end of the Wilder administration, December 1993, and from the
Allen administration in July 1995. Analysis by Lise Olsen,
computer-assisted reporting specialist, and Margaret Edds, staff
writer.
[For complete graphics, please see microfilm]
AGENCIES THAT TOOK BIG HITS
70% PAYROLL REDUCTION
Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs.
Wilder staff and payroll: 13, $453,803
Allen staff and payroll: 3, $136,025
Payroll reduction: 70 percent
MISSION: Administers $17.7 million federal block grant for child
care development. About 75 percent pays for day care services for
low-income parents. About 25 percent develops and improves child
care programs.
HISTORY: Formed in the late 1980s. Last winter, Allen recommended
abolishing it. Senate Democrats blocked that proposal, but money for
salaries was cut. Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, said he thought
the Allen administration had promised to pay workers out of federal
funds. The administration says he was mistaken.
UPSIDE: Dr. Elizabeth Ruppert, an Allen appointee who applauds
dismantling the council she directs, says the eliminated positions
are no loss to Virginia's children. The work can be done by the
child care unit of the Department of Social Services, and the
savings can help some of the 7,000 youngsters waiting for services,
she said.
Ruppert said most of the people whose jobs were eliminated
reviewed grant applications. A major part of the council's work -
distributing day care money - is being performed already by Social
Services under contract from the council, she said.
A controversy has arisen because low-income, working parents who
were previously getting full-day Head Start care under the council
are being required by Social Services to pay 10 percent of the cost.
The benefit is that more families are covered, Ruppert said.
DOWNSIDE: Longtime child-care advocates say they are appalled at
the dismantling of an agency nationally recognized for innovation.
Its unique feature, and a reason for keeping it separate from
Social Services, was that it focused on child care ``as everybody's
need, not just a welfare problem,'' said Mary Ellen Verdu, a former
director. Supporters fear the council's work in such areas as
upgrading training for day care workers and expanding early
childhood education will be lost in an agency whose focus is on the
poor.
Eliminated workers did much more than review grants, they say.
They consulted with businesses, local governments and others on how
to serve children, and they did studies and reports that helped
change state policies.
47%
Department of Minority Business Enterprises
Wilder staff and payroll: 22; $679,144
Allen staff and payroll: 12; $359,225
Payroll reduction: 47 percent
MISSION: To promote minority and female-owned businesses in
Virginia. The department encourages state agencies to contract with
such firms and provides technical assistance.
HISTORY: Opened in 1972, the office was one of the first of its
kind in the nation. It was elevated to agency status a few years
later under a bill pushed by Wilder, then a state senator.
UPSIDE: Eliminating unnecessary work and ``flattening'' the
management structure means the department operates more efficiently,
said James W. House, the director.
The changes have eliminated two deputy director positions and
simplified a minority-business certification process. The
certification form, used to recruit minority firms, has been reduced
from six pages to two. More firms are getting certified and two
part-time workers are doing a job once handled by four
full-timers.
Even so, House said he expects the staff to grow to a ceiling of
18 in the next few months.
DOWNSIDE: Cutting the staff is a signal that minority business
recruitment isn't a high priority to Allen - especially given the
small amount of state work (about 5 percent) that goes to minority
and female firms, said Lynda Sharp Anderson, president of the
Richmond-based Metropolitan Business League.
40% and 34% PAYROLL REDUCTION
The Virginia Board for People with Disabilities (No. 3) and The
Department for the Rights of Virginians With Disabilities (No. 5)
Wilder staff and payroll: Board - 6; $214,477. Department - 22;
$818,194
Allen staff and payroll: Board - 4, $129,341. Department - 15,
$538,818
Payroll reduction: board - 40 percent; department - 34 percent.
MISSION: The board's mission is to improve state services for
Virginians with developmental disabilities, such as mental
retardation, cerebral palsy, or brain injuries occurring before age
21. The ``department'' is a legal advocacy agency to help in cases
of abuse, neglect, discrimination or other problems.
HISTORY: The state opened a developmental disabilities advocacy
office in 1977. The board and the department have since undergone
several incarnations. They were separated in 1992 because federal
overseers thought the functions were incompatible.
UPSIDE: A decision to use private local attorneys rather than
in-house staff means that the lawyers are physically closer to the
people they're serving, and that work can sometimes be done more
cheaply, said Sandra Reen, disabilities department director.
The department is also saving money by combining fiscal
operations with another agency and by clarifying priorities. Workers
now spend more time advocating for the disabled and less on policy
matters, she said.
The board has cut costs by eliminating part-time workers, said
Brian S. Parsons, acting director of the disabilities board.
Downsizing, while sometimes painful, ``can be an opportunity to
relook critically at what you do,'' he said.
DOWNSIDE: Advocates for the disabled complain that services are
suffering. ``Tremendously damaging,'' said Jamie Ruppman of Vienna,
a Republican who works with developmentally disabled children and
adults.
Ruppman cited as an example the case of an 8-year-old Vienna boy
who is autistic. Last year, the rights department agreed to handle a
dispute with the local school board over his education plan. At the
last minute, Ruppman said, the family was told that the department
could not be sure they had enough staff to meet court deadlines. The
family hired a lawyer at a cost of about $20,000, she said.
36%
Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Authority
Wilder staff and payroll: 19, $707,876
Allen staff and payroll: 12, $452,111
Payroll reduction: 36 percent
MISSION: Helps local governments plan land use with an eye toward
balancing economic development and improving the waters of the
Chesapeake Bay.
HISTORY: Created in 1988 with passage of the Chesapeake Bay
Preservation Act. The drop to 12 employees was largely because of
the 1994 hiring freeze. Last summer, authority Director Kathleen
Lawrence approached the secretary of natural resources, Becky Norton
Dunlop, with news that her agency was too thinly stretched. Dunlop
and Allen authorized her to expand her staff to 18.
UPSIDE AND DOWNSIDE: Depends on whether you think Allen was
showing flexibility in approving the increase in staffing or was
backing away from his commitment to cut the workforce.
by CNB