(Host) Governor Jim Douglas says the state will need to eliminate some positions in state government in the coming months.
But he says he hopes to achieve the goal of job reduction through attrition, not layoffs.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel has more.
(Kinzel) As the state prepares to start a new fiscal year in about a week, there’s still a fair amount of uncertainty about the future of the Vermont economy.
Governor Jim Douglas says he believes the economy is moving in the right direction – but he says the rate of growth is very small:
(Douglas) "We are technically in recovery. The recession ended, economists tell us. We’ve seen a reduction of our unemployment rate by about a percent or so over the last year. Revenues are still pretty soft…but they’re not getting any worse. They’re pretty stable and so I think things are moving perhaps slowly but in the right direction."
(Kinzel) Douglas says one of his Administration’s key jobs in the next 3 months is to determine how to reduce state spending by as much as $20 million to adhere to the provisions of the Challenges for Change law:
(Douglas) "We have to find ways within those limited dollars to provide the services that the Legislature has directed. At the same time I had hoped and assumed that we might have a little surplus to carry forward into the next fiscal year – that may be less than we anticipated. We continue to have a little uncertainty in terms of federal funds that are part of the picture as well."
(Kinzel) Douglas says it’s clear that some positions in state government will have to be eliminated but he says his goal is to achieve these savings by not filling a number of vacant positions:
(Douglas) "I hope and assume that any further position reductions will be done by attrition. I don’t anticipate any layoffs – but it’s certainly possible that more positions will be eliminated as time goes on."
(Kinzel) The State’s Emergency Board will review the initial implementation of the Challenges for Change law at their meeting next month.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.