More Than 1,000 Delaware State Positions Cut Since January

Markell lays out “five foundations” for making state government smaller and more cost-effective during budget process in advance of OMB hearings

November 2, 2009 -- WILMINGTON – State government will have at least 1,000 fewer positions than it did in the beginning of his term this January, Delaware Governor Jack Markell announced today. As the Office of Management and Budget begins a month of budget hearings, the Governor laid out five foundations he and his Cabinet are using to make government work more efficiently and cost-effectively to reduce the size and cost of state government.

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“The single greatest cost in the state budget is personnel. The state needs to be serious in how it manages attrition from employees who retire and cautious when it fills any positions that open up in other ways,” Markell said. “Reducing by 1,000 the number of positions in state government not only cut costs in the short-term, it puts us in a far better position to meet any challenges in the future.”

Earlier in the year, the administration worked with state legislators to eliminate 485 open positions across state government. Agencies have now identified an additional 525 positions to be eliminated from the FY 2010 budget and will continue to look for ways to reduce the number of state positions.

“There are some real bright spots in Delaware’s economy and a tremendous amount of potential for future growth,” Markell said. “We wake up each day committed to doing everything we can to get more Delawareans back to work and to strengthen economic opportunity for those already working. But unemployment has no quick or easy solutions. We continue to face shrinking state revenue and need to respond by reducing state spending.”

In addition to rebuilding the state’s economy to help Delawareans get ahead and strengthening Delaware’s schools to offer the state’s children every opportunity to succeed, the administration remains focused on finding ways to cut the cost of state government. As the state starts hearings on next year’s budget, the administration is using five foundations to guide its efforts to help government meet its responsibilities while delivering the best return for taxpayer dollars:

1) Consolidate programs and units if savings or efficiencies can be achieved. In some cases, services are provided in silos, causing redundancies that can be frustrating on the one hand and potentially burdensome on the other for Delaware’s citizens and businesses.

2) Leverage new technology and management practices to deliver better results at lower cost.

3) Seek to eliminate or reduce state activities if the work done by the government simply duplicates efforts that are already completed by existing non-profits if savings or efficiencies can be achieved.

4) Budget for core priorities first and ask of each program and each process – “Does this meet or further our core missions as an agency or department?”

5) Identify services that state government provides that may be done as well or better by private business at a lower cost.

“These foundations will be an important part of the balanced budget that I will present to the General Assembly. Many of the decisions to be made will be hard, but we need to make them, recognizing that to ensure our ability to keep our core commitments such as protecting public safety,” Markell said. “In the meantime, we continue to improve our management practices to save taxpayer dollars and eliminate duplication of services. We’re streamlining units and programs for efficiency and by eliminating these 1,000 positions, working to reduce the single largest cost of state government.”

Source: Delaware Governor