R.I. budget would force layoffs

R.I. budget would force layoffs

	Published : Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:35 By : Agencies Print this Story

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AFX) - Hundreds of state workers would be laid off and social spending programs would be slashed to close a $350 million budget deficit under a budget proposal released Wednesday by Gov. Don Carcieri.

The Republican governor's $7.02 billion spending plan also taps into the state's rainy-day fund to help close the gap. But it avoids tax increases and pumps money into education initiatives backed by Carcieri, a former math teacher, including expanding nursing programs and modestly increasing education assistance for cities and towns.

'This is the most difficult budget I have had to manage since I was elected governor,' Carcieri said at a news conference.

His budget staff justified cutbacks by warning that expenditures were projected to grow 9 percent for the 2008 fiscal year starting in July. Revenue was only projected to increase around 4.3 percent.

'In other words, we were scheduled to spend twice as much as we hoped to earn,' Carcieri said.

By law, Rhode Island must pass a balanced budget.

State workers are among the groups hit the hardest. Carcieri's plan calls for saving $9.8 million by firing 168 state workers, both unionized employees and management. Carcieri's plan would also privatize the food service and housekeeping staffs at a state hospital and veteran's home, eliminating an additional 214 workers.

All nonessential employees would have to take seven unpaid days off. Four of those days would be scheduled before July. The rest would fall around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays.

Carcieri, elected by a slim margin in November, was criticized by Democrats during last year's campaign for proposing cuts to the health care programs for the poor, elderly and disabled. His budget plan this year calls for similar reductions.

As required by a new federal law, Rhode Island health officials will begin demanding more proof of U.S. citizenship, for example a birth certificate or passport, before allowing people to enroll in subsidized health care services.

Those changes could force an estimated 5,700 people off RIte Care, the state's insurance program for the needy, said Gary Alexander, the acting director of the Department of Human Services.

For the first time, several state-run health care programs would impose a $1 co-payment for generic drugs and a $3 co-payment for brand-name prescription drugs. Carcieri's budget also would reduce by 10 percent the reimbursements state authorities make to hospitals for outpatient services.

One of the larger social spending cuts would tighten the eligibility requirements for families that use state-subsidized child care programs, probably eliminating about 3,800 children from the program. Those children would largely come from families that already contribute some money toward their child care, Alexander said.

He acknowledged that low-income parents who can't afford private child care could wind up collecting welfare or unemployment checks because they might have to leave their jobs to care for children.

'I'm hopeful that these people will not end up on the welfare rolls,' Alexander said. 'Ultimately, no one knows what could happen in a situation like this.'

Carcieri promised at his inauguration in January to use his second and final term to improve the state's education system. His budget offers a modest 3 percent increase in state education aid to local cities and towns and increases by $9 million the money available for college scholarships.

The spending plan also calls for hiring six new instructors to expand nursing programs at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.