Beleaguered state workers at an agency with a Rick Scott bulls-eye on it vented their worries directly to the governor on Tuesday, expressing concerns and skepticism about his plan to shrink government, and change retirement benefits for its employees.
Speaking to Scott following his tour of the Department of Community Affairs, workers there expressed fears for their jobs and retirement benefits, both of which were targeted by the governor in his proposed $66 billion spending plan. Some also questioned how much money the governor can save by cutting corporate income taxes and reducing a state workforce that is already one of the leanest in the country.
As part of a broad effort to cut government spending to create 700,000 jobs in seven years, Scott is proposing heavy consolidation, including shifting a number of the functions at DCA, which has a $315 million budget, into the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation. That would allow duplicative jobs to be cut. DCA has more than 500 positions in the budget, though not all are filled.
While Scott’s plan to create jobs may bear fruit in the long term, the immediate impact will be the opposite, at least in the Tallahassee area, said Robab Fayazi, a systems programmer at DCA since 2005.
“I cannot wait seven years until the private sector comes in and create new jobs,” he said.
Scott and other Republicans have loudly blamed DCA for blocking growth in the state, and it has been in crosshairs for GOP leaders for a couple years. Scott has said he can save taxpayers more than $1 billion over two years through eliminating duplicative and “unnecessary” work at the agency.
In addition to flat out cuts, workers there said they’re concerned about benefits.
Ken Reecy, a DCA employee with more than 29 years in the Florida Retirement System asked Scott what happens to his pension if he is laid off and hired back at another agency. Reecy asked Scott if there was a way that employees nearing retirement age could be insulated from changes that may affect their pension.
Scott said he wants the pension fund to fulfill its promise to long-tenured employees while becoming financially stable enough to be around when new employees reach retirement age.
“No one has brought that up so I’d have to think about that,” Scott said of grandfathering in long-tenure employees. “It’s something I haven’t looked at, but I will certainly look at.”
Scott has visited several agencies in recent days, and at most, workers have declined to publicly air their concerns. But at DCA, which the governor has singled out as an impediment to the state’s recovery, frustration was evident.
“I’m tired of being demonized for being a state worker,” said Thomas Robinson, an employee with the Division of Emergency Management (DEM), which is part of DCA. It was just a few years ago that DEM, headed at the time by now FEMA director Craig Fugate, was one of the stars of state government. While the federal government foundered as Hurricane Katrina hit, Florida won acclaim for its response to several major hurricanes in two years.
Robinson asked Scott if the corporate tax cuts he is proposing would actually create jobs or simply increase the profit margin of business owners. Asked if he worried that his questions or comments could jeopardize his employment, Robinson said he took the governor at his word that he wanted to hear from employees on issue of concern.
“As a gentleman and a true businessman, he has to expect questions like that,” Robinson said.
DCA Secretary Billy Buzzett, who was brought in by Scott to shepherd the agency through an expected downsizing or merger, said employees were encouraged to say what was on their minds.
By Michael Peltier
The News Service of Florida
