Maryland Professional Employees Council
Governor O'Malley set to announce budget cuts at Board of Public Works
On Monday, July 20, 2009, AFT-Healthcare Maryland and MPEC, along with leaders from the other State bargaining units met with representatives of Governor O’Malley. The talks outlined the Governor’s plan to cut about $280 million from the state’s budget for the current fiscal year in what was referred to as “cost containment.”
The cuts will largely come from department and agency budgets. However, some “modest” job cuts will occur in filled and unfilled positions, some from non-bargaining units. Of the 57 total job eliminations, 39 are currently filled positions. Nineteen of those are in bargaining units, one is in Unit E, affecting AFT-Healthcare members, while 8 will come from Unit G, affecting MPEC members. At this time, we do not know what the specific job is, but expect to have that information soon. The agencies that will be affected are DHMH, DLLR, DNR, DBED, State Police and Agriculture.
There will be no salary reductions or furloughs at this time. Nor will there be cuts to local government or education.
The Governor will take his proposed cuts to the Board of Public Works (BPW) on Wednesday.
Further cuts can be anticipated in light of the $700 million that the Governor must cut from the current budget due to reduced revenues during the current economic downturn. These cuts will be put forward to the Board of Public Works (BPW) in August and possibly September according to representatives of the governor in the meeting yesterday.
To that end, the Unions are scheduled to meet again with representatives of the governor to discuss the impact on state employees and state services. It is conceivable that major services at the state and local level will be greatly affected, services like foster care, public health facilities, juvenile services, and other agencies may face significant cutbacks, possibly putting Maryland’s public health and safety in danger.
AFT-Healthcare Maryland and MPEC will continue to meet with the administration to represent our members’ interests and concerns. Call or email us to let us know what you think.
