Oklahoma state workers protest furloughs
By The Associated Press
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44
Published: October 26, 2009
As state agencies continue to grapple with budget cuts amid plunging state revenues, about a dozen Pardon and Parole Board employees picketed in front of the Capitol on Monday, their third furlough day in as many months.
The entire agency, which employs about 35 workers, was shut down Monday, and a recorded message at the headquarters said the closure was due to state budget cuts.
"I have to be able to support my family," said James McGee, a parole board investigator with four children, including one who is in college. "Here I am off work for a day, but there's still work to do.
"It's just waiting for me when I get back."
The employees held signs on the south lawn of the state Capitol and waved to passing motorists.
The Pardon and Parole Board and the Office of Juvenile Affairs have started furloughing workers.
Oklahoma tax revenue plummeted 30 percent last month compared to the amount the state collected in September 2008. Much of the loss was in gross production taxes on oil and natural gas. In response, state officials cut agency budgets by 5 percent for the third consecutive month.
Preliminary reports for September showed general revenue fund collections totaled nearly $434 million — almost $187 million, or 30.1 percent, less than last September. The total also is almost $179 million, or 29.2 percent, less than what the state expected.
During the first three months of the fiscal year that began July 1, the state collected about $1.1 billion in tax revenue. That's about $462 million less than it collected during the same three months last year.
The budget cuts are particularly problematic for agencies like the Pardon and Parole Board, which spends most of its budget on personnel, said Mark Beutler, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Public Employees Association.
"I think 90-plus percent of their budget goes to personnel costs, and there's not a lot to cut when they're asked to cut 5 percent," Beutler said. "There's only so much you can cut without starting to cut employees, and once you do that, it begins to affect the citizens of Oklahoma."
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Those furlough days cut their pay.
So some of the their bills will not get paid on time.
Some merchants and professionals will have to wait.
Not a good idea for the local economy in Oklahoma City.
I pray for them.
Why should anyone waste their time arguing with an internet "flamer" like yourself? Go back to your Xbox and Fruity Pebbles...lol.
BWAHAHAHAHA.
If some want to call that free coverage, well have at it. We all know government isn't 'free.'
As for legality of furloughs, you'll need to read the Oklahoma Personnel Act Section '74-840-2.27C – Reduction-In-Force, Layoffs, and Furloughs' to see how the state legally does it. Website is here... http://www.ok.gov/opm/HR_Rules_and_Statutes/index.html
It figures that Jason, Edmond is a trust fund baby. Just gotta love that silver spoon attitude. ;)
Why doesn't the state take the lead and start giving tax credits to businesses that add CNG filling stations as well as credits to buy and/or convert a vehicle to CNG? That would create the jobs to install the stations, create jobs converting the vehicles, and give people a reason to buy the CNG vehicles or convert their existing vehicle. For once, we would then become a LEADER in promting an idea (CNG) and not sit and wait for all (or most of all) of the other states to do something and then follow their lead.
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Guys I'm lost. What falsehood please? I will attempt to correct or clarify.
The paid days off is a great benefit. 15 days vacation, 15 days sick for a new employees. And 10 holidays.
By the bye, interesting, isn't it folks, that a state employee on the taxpayer's dime has all this free time in the afternoon to post on an internet forum instead of, say, doing his job? That's what they call "good enough for government work" - which means, don't do any work at all.
And I am not complaining. I am totally aware that this is happening to everyone in both public AND private employment. We all have to make these difficult choices.
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Question answered.
As for the rest, so what? Everyone has to contribute to their health insurance, that's what co-pays are all about. In some cases, such as mine, where the health coverage is out of a family trust, there are certain user fees. With most folks in the private sector there are deductibles.
What about this do you not grasp? The "gimme" mentality at its finest.
I'm looking at a BIG screw-up. On my state employee pay stub,it lists:
$57.16 for my FREE dental; $715.76 for my FREE dependent medical care;$1023.52 for my FREE employee medical care. And EVERY doctor I go to wants money when I visit. Would you like a name, to , as a good citizen, report this ?
Answer yes or no - I'm not interested in any "yes, buts."
I'll be curious if the answer is "no," because you will then have destroyed your credibility by telling such a fabulous whopper.
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