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October 15, 2007

Alert: Carcieri roughing out personnel cuts

PROVIDENCE -- Months after vowing to cut 1,000 jobs, Governor Carcieri is poised to announce the outlines of a plan to lay off 414 state employees, trim the state’s temporary employment rolls by another 115 workers and wipe 487 empty jobs off the state’s books.

The personnel cuts that Carcieri is expected to announce at a 2 p.m. press conference today are a central piece of the governor’s plan to avert a projected $200 million deficit in the state budget year that begins on July 1.

As of this morning, there were no available details on which state workers -- and which state agencies -- face job cuts. The governor’s staff would say only that the cuts would be focused on “back office” workers.

For example, 115 positions would be cut among the five state health and human services departments, including jobs in human resources, information technology and finance, the governor’s Chief of Staff Brian Stern told reporters in a private briefing Friday.

The executive branch plans to begin notifying those contract employees affected on Nov. 1. State employees will be notified Nov. 15.

Carcieri was expected to largely ignore the other elements of his deficit-reduction plan today: $50 million in cuts to social service programs and another $50 million in cuts to the health benefits of those employees who survive the layoffs.

Stern said that those cuts would be reflected in the governor’s budget proposal scheduled for release in February and throughout negotiations with unions whose contracts expire in the coming year.

Today’s press conference marks the attempt of a governor, with plummeting poll numbers, to take control of the Smith Hill spending debate months before lawmakers return to the State House and try to rehabilitate his image along the way.

-- Steve Peoples of the Journal State House Bureau

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 2:08 PM | Permalink

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