Pennsylvania to Lay Off 319 Workers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
17 November 2009
By Tracie Mauriello and Don Hopey
HARRISBURG -- Historical sites will be shuttered, the wait for
government services will be longer, swimming and camping seasons at
state parks will be shorter, and hundreds of state employees will be
looking for new jobs.
The governor's office announced yesterday that Friday will be the last
day of work for 319 employees who are being laid off. They will be put
on administrative leave until Dec. 4, allowing them to collect two
additional weeks of pay.
"Today's news is grim but we are grateful the number [of layoffs] isn't
any greater than it is," Secretary of Administration Naomi Wyatt said
yesterday.
The layoffs were required to meet spending reductions called for in the
$27.8 billion state budget that passed last month after a summer of
contentious negotiations, Ms. Wyatt said.
She said many of the staff reductions are expected to be permanent, but
if the economy improves some cuts could be restored.
"Hopefully if the economy turns upward, we're hoping to bring back
services at state parks and open up historical sites again," she said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection, which had its general
fund budget cut by almost $56.6 million, or 27 percent, will lay off
138 employees or 5 percent of its work force. The department also will
eliminate another 120 vacant positions, according to DEP Secretary John
Hanger.
It's the largest number of layoffs in any state department.
"We're losing about 8 percent of our overall staffing due to the budget
reductions, but we've made enforcement and oversight a priority so it
will not affect our ability to do that work," Mr. Hanger said.
None of the cuts will come in the department's oil and gas program,
where the state recently raised fees to pay for 37 new hires to do
permitting and inspection work on hundreds of new wells tapping into
the Marcellus shale, a deep rock formation underlying three-fourths of
the state and attracting widespread drilling interest.
State Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, said the DEP layoffs could have
been avoided had the Rendell administration backed a severance tax on
Marcellus drilling as part of the state budget.
"The revenue the state could have raised with a severance tax or fee --
which ever other major natural-gas drilling state already has -- could
have gone a long way to supporting DEP's staff and mission," he said.
The state Historical and Museum Commission, meanwhile, will furlough 85
people, or a third of its employees.
The other layoffs are spread across several departments and offices
including Agriculture, Public Welfare and Military and Veterans Affairs.
No parks state parks will close, but several historical sites will be
shuttered temporarily because there will be no employees to staff them
and give tours. They include Old Economy Village in Ambridge.
Other agencies will reduce operating hours. For example, the State
Museum and State Archives in Harrisburg both will close on Mondays and
Tuesdays; and the Drake Well Museum in Venango County will close for
the winter.
The announcement brings to 769 the total number of executive-branch
employees who have been laid off since January. That doesn't include
job losses departments outside the governor's jurisdiction, such as
Treasury, which furloughed 60 over the summer.
Twelve of the 319 being furloughed work in state offices in Allegheny
County and another 28 work in surrounding areas.
The layoffs will save the state $16.7 million over the next 12 months,
Ms. Wyatt said.
One union official says the overall savings could be negligible.
"The state's unemployment compensation is self-insured and that's
two-thirds of employees' pay. That itself shows that cutting personnel
isn't really a big savings," said David Fillman, executive director of
the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council
13.