Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: How many state employees were laid off when the state had its RIF (reduction in force) last year? Recently, they published the fact that they didn't actually save anything, but how many people were actually laid off? Adding up state
layoffs not easyAnswer: It is confusing.
It was reported last June that Gov. Ben Cayetano approved a state supplemental budget that laid off 40 full-time workers, while 162 permanent positions which were vacant were eliminated. Last month, state House Finance Chairman Dwight Takamine said that, despite talk of state government shrinking, the work force had grown by 1,700 since 1993.
What's the bottom line?
We asked Jim Dote, personnel management specialist with the state Department of Human Resources Development, for state employee counts, which are tracked by his department.
First, he said a distinction has to be made between actual employees and position counts. Legislators working on the proposed state budget count "authorized positions, which will differ from the actual number of employees that we keep track of," he said.
The counts are not interchangeable. For instance, a position may have two half-time employees filling it, may be vacant awaiting recruitment or vacant for other reasons, Dote said.
That said, according to his department's records, since 1994, 79 permanent state employees were laid off because of RIF notices.
An additional 40 voluntarily resigned or retired due to RIF, while 290 nonpermanent employees were terminated. That's a total of 409.
"What isn't shown in RIF totals are the reductions made to nonpermanent staffing as departments faced continual budget cuts over the past three years," Dote said.
When you consider the elimination of vacant positions, between December 1994 and December 1998, the state employed 2,100 fewer "noncasual employees on a full-time equivalency basis," he said. That's down about 4.6 percent.
Nineteen departments actually cut staffing by an average of 10 percent since late 1994 (his department, for example, cut staffing by 28 percent), he said.
However, that was countered by hiring for specific state jobs because of priorities placed on education, health and correctional programs, some of them to meet federal mandates, he said.
Also, the state opened seven new schools over the past four years and more are set to open soon.
Between December 1994 and December 1998, the Department of Education hired 655 more employees, Dote said. But internally, that increase was offset by a cut in the DOE's central staffing by 40 percent during the same period, he said.
The Department of Public Safety actually shows 100 fewer employees, but the number there should increase because of facilities either being added or expanded, Dote said.
Auwe
To inconsiderate smokers. Our Wahiawa Rainbow Senior Citizen club adopted California Avenue from Kamehameha Highway to Cane Street as our adopt-a-highway project.We have four teams that go out once a month to pick up trash and cigarette butts on sidewalks and streets. I can't see picking up cigarette butts especially around bus stops, where there are trash bins.
Smokers might think twice next time if, for every butt that they threw, they threw a penny with it. Mahalo to the more considerate people. - Jane Matsumoto
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