N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo will seek a one-year salary freeze for state workers as part of the effort to grapple with the state’s projected $9 billion budget deficit.
They’re differing views here in North Carolina about the best ways to deal with our relatively modest $3 billion budget deficit. The N&O’s Rob Christensen suggests an across-the board 15 percent pay cut.
JLF president John Hood disagrees:
Respectfully, this is entirely the wrong approach to balancing North Carolina’s budget. To “spread the sacrifice evenly over the state workforce” is to fail to make critical distinctions – both among employees and among state programs. Some state employees are fantastic and deliver government services. Some state employees are fantastic but the services they perform aren’t a high priority in tight budget times. And some state employees are lazy, incompetent, or simply in jobs that don’t fit their skills and interests.
….As to the notion that pay cuts are better for the economy than layoffs, that assumes that North Carolina’s current rate of public employment is defensible and economically beneficial. It isn’t. We have hampered our economy for years, during periods of boom and bust, with the expense of paying for too many public-sector workers.
I can’t repeat it enough —this is going to be a very interesting year.
