I just received a copy of this e-mail. I’ve blocked out the FROM and CC fields because I’m not sure how public this is supposed to be (even though I’m not sure how you can send something to the entire AHS staff without expecting it to be public)
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:25 AM To: AHS - DOC - All DOC Staff Cc: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Subject: 600 Position Reductions As Secretary Hofmann mentioned in his email (which I have added below), at some point today, the Administration will release the specific information about the positions that will be proposed for elimination across State Government in order to achieve $17,000,000 in labor cost savings for State Fiscal Year 2010. Secretary Hofmann's email contains the details on why this is necessary, so I will not repeat that information here. Therefore, the DOC proposes the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St Johnsbury because of it‚s proximity to another male prison facility (less than 50 miles), it's co-location with an existing work camp and because it is the right size to address the issue at hand. While the closing of this facility is not desirable, it is necessary to address the budget deficit and would mean the elimination of almost all of the positions at the NERCF site. These positions are in addition to the previous 9 that we announced late last week which were required to meet our SFY 2010 budget. I appreciate the difficulty of these reductions and sincerely hope that they will ultimately be unnecessary. While more conversations between the VSEA, the Administration and the Legislature will unfold, I want to make sure that you have as much information as possible in a timely manner. As more information becomes available, we will pass that along to staff.
That was the preamble to an e-mail from Secretary Hoffman. I will include his e-mail after the fold.
To All AHS Staff: While I have asked each Commissioner to be in contact with their whole department, I thought it was important that all AHS employees hear about difficult news that is coming out today directly from me. As you probably know, the State of Vermont is facing a budget gap of well over $200 Million for the fiscal year (FY 2010) that starts in just over 3 months. This only represents the General Fund shortfall and this gap is more likely to grow than shrink. The Governor has proposed a budget that counts on a huge Federal Stimulus infusion to bridge much of the shortfall, but also asks a wide variety of non-profit partners, contract and grant recipients, medical providers, beneficiaries and other Vermonters to share in the cost reductions. A reduction in State personnel costs will also be necessary. Several key legislators agree with the Administration proposal that $17 million (or about 8% of the solution) should come from reduced state personnel costs. Given that the union proposal does not yet yield the necessary savings and the new fiscal year is only a few months away, we are at a point where we need to advise the employees in positions slated for elimination. The financial target for the Agency of Human Services was $6.8 million (estimated at 285 positions). Commissioners, HR/Finance staff and I have spent an enormous amount of time wrestling with the difficult options to reduce personnel costs in our agency of 3500 employees. Having taken some positions off the list, we have identified $4.5 million in annual savings through the elimination of 195 positions. While some of these positions are vacant, most are not. We will be informing the individuals or work groups impacted as soon as possible today. I expect the list of positions to be public by day's end. I will subsequently be reviewing with Commissioners, options to reduce the remaining portion of the agency target. For those of you directly affected by these changes, I understand that it is extremely difficult to receive notice that, through no fault of your own, your position is being eliminated in a restructuring. I, and thousands of other Vermonters, can personally attest to that. So far AHS has a tremendous track record of helping employees land another job within the agency and will do our utmost to continue to do so. This naturally becomes more difficult as the number of state positions is reduced and the economy causes people to stay in (or seek) state positions which are relatively more secure than the external employment market. The national recession has thrown the continued existence of many previously vibrant employers (e.g. auto manufacturers, newspapers, airlines, banks, non-profits) into grave doubt. While I can not allay the anxiety that you feel, on the whole these reductions are less than those that have occurred at many businesses. These reductions are very difficult, but the work of State government remains critical and will continue into the future, something many outside employees can not say with certainty. I understand that this may not be any consolation to anyone who loses a job, it may be reassuring to the 95% of staff not directly impacted. The Administration has made a counter proposal to VSEA yesterday which will become public today. Because of this, I remain hopeful that the number of eliminated positions can be held steady or reduced based on the discussions among the key stakeholders. In the meantime, I encourage staff to support each other at this turbulent time and endeavor to remain focused on our important work. Thank you. Rob Hofmann
My favorite line is the imaginary group consisting of “the 95% of staff not directly impacted.”
We’re all impacted by this.