ATLANTA (AP) – With the prospect that reduced money is likely to mean reduced services, a couple of Georgia state senators are wondering whether state employees could be made to do the same work for less money.
Typically, agencies furlough workers when they cut salaries. Being sent home without pay doesn’t lessen the financial sting, but it does lessen the amount of work that employees are asked to do.
As lawmakers began Tuesday to consider a 14% reduction in next year’s state budget due to declines in tax revenues amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s already clear that $3.5 billion or more in budget cuts will lead to lots of furloughs.
The Senate Appropriations Education Subcommittee faced up to the problem quickly during an appearance by Commissioner Amy Jacobs of the Department of Early Care and Learning. She warned that a 14% cut in lottery funds would lead to a $51 million reduction in spending on state-subsidized child care slots for 4-year-olds. Teachers would see their pay cut 10% with total days worked falling from 190 to 171. That would include 13 fewer school days and six fewer planning days. The department would eliminate 4,000 of its 84,000 child care slots entirely.
Subcommittee Chairman Ellis Black, a Republican from Valdosta, suggested that instead of furloughing workers, the state could temporarily cut paychecks. Sen. Jesse Stone, a Waynesboro Republican, supported the idea. Sen. Jeff Mullis, a Chickamauga Republican, has separately proposed cutting lawmakers’ pay by 14%.