Number of state workers down by 2,200

Despite the biggest contraction of state spending in modern history, so far it appears that many state facilities in Southeast Missouri will continue to operate at or near staffing levels of the past year.

In the state budget awaiting action by Gov. Jay Nixon, the authorized number of full-time employees across all departments of state government in the year beginning July 1 will be 2,222 fewer than the number on the employment rolls in fiscal year 2009. That is a 3.7 percent cut from the 59,780 state workers allowed for the year ending June 30, 2009.

The job reductions were part of a process that cut almost $500 million from the general revenue portion of the $23.3 billion state spending plan. General revenue, which is money available for any state purpose, is about $7.8 billion of the total budget. Job cuts didn't just hit general revenue-funded agencies. The Division of State Parks lost 55 positions as its dedicated sales tax revenue fell, for example.

But Nixon and Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, agree that additional cuts will be needed. Mayer said the budget was built on expectations that bills saving the state about $75 million to $100 million in the coming year would pass by the time lawmakers went home last week. They did not.

"It will be difficult for the budget that we passed to balance unless revenues shoot upward," he said.

Nixon spokesman Sam Murphey, in a statement issued by e-mail, said the legislature's work on the budget was an important first step but that the spending plan is out of balance. "The Governor will be sitting down with the budget director this week to review the budget and determine exactly how much will need to be trimmed and where those cuts will occur," the statement said.

Most employment cuts were achieved by leaving open jobs unfilled. But about 300 workers could lose their jobs at state hospitals operated by the Missouri Department of Mental Health, with announcements of exactly how those cuts will be made expected in September, department spokeswoman Debra Walker said.

The mental health agency has lost 802 of its 8,676 positions in the past two years.

Some observers are warning that if state revenue continues to fall, it will be impossible to maintain employment levels and cuts could hit the very programs that are most in demand during a recession. The year beginning July 1 will use up about $1 billion in federal budget stabilization funds that have supported programs across state government, said Amy Blouin, executive director of the Missouri Budget Project.

"When certain positions are eliminated, reduced and consolidated, there is a real concern that the services Missourians need most will not be delivered effectively," Blouin said.

No changes in employment levels are included in the budget lines for the Missouri Veterans Homes, including the one in Cape Girardeau, or the Cottonwood Treatment Center, a residential youth mental health program in Cape Girardeau with the equivalent of 87.26 full-time employees.

Minor changes, including a reduction of 13 positions at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston -- to 391.96 full-time equivalent employees -- and a cut of four job positions at the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center in Farmington, where there will be 885.55 full-time equivalent employees, are also included.

In the Missouri Department of Social Services, the legislature authorized 7,759 full-time employees during the coming year, down 333 from the current year. The reduction eliminates job positions that have been vacant, said Scott Rowson, spokesman for the department.

Reorganization within the department, however, could lead to job cuts in the coming year, he said. The department, for example, is studying whether every county should have an office of the Division of Family Services, which administers welfare programs, and the Children's Division, which investigates child abuse and neglect, he said.

"We're asking, where does it make sense?" Rowson said. "There are offices out there that have a small amount of employees, and could they be better housed in another county by sharing space and leveraging technology to the fullest extent possible?"

So far, Rowson said, workers who process applications for financial assistance or food stamps, for example, have been able to keep up with growing caseloads. "At some point you reach a point where that might not be possible anymore, but we have done some pretty heroic work dealing with the influx of applicants for food stamps and needs based programs."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent addresses:

1025 N. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO 2400 Veterans Memorial Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO

300 Pedro Simmons Drive, Charleston, MO

1010 W Columbia St., Farmington, MO

Jefferson City, Mo.