Now that Connecticut state employee unions ratified $1.6 million in concessions this week, Gov. Dannel Malloy’s administration will begin shrinking the state’s government in other areas as well.
Management positions may be consolidated, vacant positions will be left open, and the fares on the New Haven rail services may increase, said Office of Policy & Management Secretary Ben Barnes on Friday morning.
“The best way to restructure state government is to do it deliberately with time and make sure all the needed services are still provided,” Barnes said.
As part of the union concession agreement approved Wednesday, the state and the employee unions will need to hit savings targets of more than $150 million through various cuts in health care, technology and general savings. The unions and the government managers will form committees to identify possible cost savings.
Beyond the concession agreement, the state wants to shrink its size while maintaining an appropriate level of service. Barnes said Malloy’s budget team already has identified hundreds of millions in potential savings reductions, although some are more attractive than others. Cutting grant programs to outside agencies, for example, wouldn’t be to popular.
Others are almost immediately doable, such as shortening the public hours at state buildings or changing the way security is provided.
“There are millions of dollars in just how we operate state office buildings,” Barnes said.
Connecticut’s state government had 2,500 vacant positions at the start of August, due to employee retirements and long-term vacancies. Barnes said at least 1,000 of those positions will be kept open, saving $65 million. If the Malloy administration needs more savings out of vacancies, then more will be left open.
Before the state employee unions approved the concession deal, 3,100 employees received layoffs notices and 230 employees were removed their positions already. While all the notices have been rescinded, not all the employees who already were laid off will come back – particularly non-union employees and union employees whose individual bargaining units did not approve the concession deal.
The union concession agreement includes job security agreements so employees can’t be laid off. However, if an employee’s individual bargaining unit did not approve the deal, then the employee isn’t covered under the job security agreement, Barnes said.
In order to still provide services but shrink the size of government, Malloy is looking at eliminating layers of management, Barnes said. All of the layoff notices that went out to those in management positions – totalling about 70 people – will not be rescinded.
Other, less popular options also are on the table, Barnes said. The state is considering raising fares on the Shore Line East rail service between New Haven and New London. Although raising fares is counterproductive to Malloy’s goals of increasing ridership, the fare increase may be necessary as are of the rail budget and to keep in line with fares running out of New York City.
