She Said-TOPIC: Tennessee state budget-Governor’s plan a sensible solution to cutting budget

Times are tough so state government has to trim the budget, and trim the budget to the tune of $468 million.

The first place to look for cuts, of course, is the fat. State layoffs aren’t the answer. Layoffs only move people to the unemployment line. They don’t cut unneeded positions.

Instead Gov. Phil Bredesen plans to eliminate about 5 percent of the state work force. It’s an admirable start given the politics involved in state employment and the power of the Tennessee State Employees Association, essentially a state workers union.

Bredesen is proposing a $50 million buyout package for an estimated 2,000 jobs, at an estimated savings of $64 million annually.

The $50 million for the buyout package will come from state reserves, with the buyout, an estimated $25,000 package, aimed at senior state employees who likely would be retiring within years anyway.

The state employment ranks are, as James notes, bloated. State government should run a lean, mean operation, in good and bad economic times.

If we look at it realistically, cutting from the bottom layer of state employees is nowhere near as effective as offering senior workers an early out. State employees with less seniority make less money and cost less in benefits.

If we look at corporate America, you see that buyout packages as proposed by the governor are a standard means of trimming operational costs. We’ve even seen it here, with Carrier and other businesses offering longtime employees attractive packages for their jobs.

With the $50 million buyout package funds coming from state reserves, taxpayers are not being asked to foot the bill. They already have.

Better to spend that $50 million in reserves, saving an estimated $64 million annually, than to let it sit there.

We really don’t know what the future is bringing economically. Bredesen’s buyout proposal eliminates 5 percent of a bloated state payroll at a savings of $64 million a year.

We can do the math. Bredesen’s solution is the most logical and economic.