Alabama County Govt. massive job cuts

[dgriffin]

Alabama's Jefferson County makes massive job cuts


Mon Aug 3, 2009



BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama's debt-ridden Jefferson County laid off about two-thirds of its 3,600 employees on Monday because of plummeting revenues, a move that will sharply curtail services in areas ranging from roads to courthouses.

The cuts are just the latest blow to Jefferson, whose population of 660,000 includes Birmingham, the state's largest city and its economic powerhouse. They come after the county racked up around $4 billion in debt by using exotic financial instruments to fund a revamp of its sewer system.

The work-force cuts will hit the roads and transportation, revenue and security departments, and reductions will also affect the courthouse and information technology department as well as laborers paid on an hourly basis, according to a senior county official.

Jefferson County has been forced to make drastic cuts because of a lawsuit questioning the legality of a county occupational tax, which raised $78 million annually and was vital to the county's operation.

Although the revenue is still being collected, it is being held in escrow under orders from an Alabama Supreme Court justice pending a decision on the tax case. Some members of the state Legislature hope to pass a new tax bill this month to raise revenue for Jefferson County.

County workers placed on administrative leave under the cuts will be entitled to unemployment and some health-care benefits and will be called back after 45 days, according to a senior county official.

www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5724P720090803


I'm surprised we're not seeing similar happenings in NY State.

[clarencebunsen]

Shortly before I moved from Minnesota to New York (can it really be 25 years?) the main public employees union went on strike. About 2 weeks into the strike I read a news article on the potential dire consequences of the strike continuing & realized that up to that point having roughly 2/3s of the state employees not working had zero impact on my life. Maybe bankruptcy is the only way to bring about a back-to-basics government.

[dgriffin]

Aug 5, 2009 5:57:03 GMT -5 clarencebunsen said:

Shortly before I moved from Minnesota to New York (can it really be 25 years?) the main public employees union went on strike. About 2 weeks into the strike I read a news article on the potential dire consequences of the strike continuing & realized that up to that point having roughly 2/3s of the state employees not working had zero impact on my life. Maybe bankruptcy is the only way to bring about a back-to-basics government.

CB, I showed your post to my neigbhor, Willard, and this is how he responded:
"No back-to-basics government for me, thank you. I'd rather get in on the action. I don't care if the work consists of pushing paper from one side of the desk to the other, I just want an indoor job now that I'm past eighty. Any size desk would be great! It would be so nice to spread out my lunch on a flat surface, instead of across my lap, bumping along over the fields on my tractor. I'm tired of explaining ketchup stains on my knees.
The way I figure, everybody 'round here makes too much money anyway. I mean, look at the dough they spend at Best Buy and Circuit City. I say tax it away from them and give some to me! (This is Willard's theory of re-distributed income for the masses.)
When the wasteful spending ends, you can take all the kids who worked at those stores and put them in the Army and have them do public works. The necessary kind, like roads and bridges and delivering free drugs to seniors. And maybe a free pizza once in a while."

[clarencebunsen]

Does Willard want to run for Congress? Not only is it indoor work with no heavy lifting, but it ofers a chance to be generous without material injury to oneself.

Just last month when the Pentagon asked for a $65 million Gulfstream to upgrade it's passenger air service, Congress told them to get not one but three as long as they were assigned to DC area units.

www.rollcall.com/media/37552-1.html

With that kind of service he could order a pizza from the House cafeteria and have it delivered to NY while still warm (as long as they used one of those insulated transport things).

[clarencebunsen]

I love context sensitive ads.

Right now the banner at the top of this page reads "Alabama Job Listings"

[dgriffin]

Kinda surprised the ad isn't for Jake's Pizza in Birmingham.