JournalInquirer.com
Going to the well once too often
CT@Work
By Leo Canty

Published: Thursday, July 16, 2009 12:08 PM EDT
You don’t know the value of water ’til the well is dry. So goes the lament in an old English proverb. Back then, when wells went dry it wasn’t because folks went out of their way to empty them — and then scramble to find a fix for the lack of water. For our state, or at least those in charge of emptying the wells of public services, the pumps are working hard to pump the water out, then pump it back in. Quite the plan.
Reports about the impact state employee retirements are having on the delivery of services are common of late. College faculty leave, class sizes go up, it takes five or more years to get a four-year degree. Vo-tech school teachers have left in droves and the scramble is on to shuffle classes and teachers to fill the void. Not good news for kids looking to build future careers in skilled trades.
More than 3,800 state employees left as of July 1 — the governor’s idea for pumping out inefficiency. It was more than expected and a surprise to many. While DOT, social services, revenue services, public health, and other agencies are scrambling from the impact of retirement incentives, as their well of talent and production evaporates, some are cheering the emptier offices and equating this workforce reduction to a shrinking of government.But some who actually understand the importance of government and public services realize that sending people out the door, especially when they have necessary, coveted skills and talents, will create more problems than it solves.
Some reductions do produce short-term savings, but the long-term negative impact can be huge. When government lacks the person-power and institutional knowledge to get the job done, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Now the champions of business and industry may cheer on the destruction of state services. But they’re not the ones out in eastern Connecticut who need LifeStar, or the parents of children in need, or the middle-class family that found out the hard way how little help there is in a bad economy. They don’t juggle jobs and scarce classes at community college while losing ground. They aren’t the ones kicked out of the “competitive” health plan with nowhere to go. To them, the service structure is not necessary.
Blogger Thomas Hooker, from CT Local Politics, recently published some research on public service staffing levels and posted these conclusions: According to data in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States, Connecticut employed 62,000 full-time equivalent employees in 2006, the latest year for which it listed data. That translated into 17.8 state employees per 1,000 population. The figure ranks Connecticut not tops in the nation, but 23rd.Similar numbers show municipalities are also less staffed than most states, meaning either we are more efficient or actually dropping the ball when it comes to real service delivery for people in need — even more when service needs are greater.
If we keep reducing staff, Connecticut government should come with a warning: Don’t fail — there’s little to back you up!
Both Govs. John Rowland and Jodi Rell got a splash for the symbolic acts of reducing government by emptying out our shallow well. But then to avoid an even bigger splash of negativity, if delivery systems failed: Roads went unplowed, criminals hit the streets again, parks closed, both governors pumped the staff back in.It’s no surprise to those on the front line that this was necessary. They know the political sham of headline-grabbing reductions followed by quiet refills is an easy trick.
Reduce and refill. It’s a bad plan, but one that has helped build polling numbers for the last two governors. The former governor went to jail, ending his cycle. We need to stop the cycle again. And not by emptying the well. People’s lives are at stake.

Leo Canty is executive secretary of the Connecticut AFL-CIO and chairman of the board of the Connecticut Health Foundation. He lives in Windsor.