Editor's Notebook: Action, not symbolism, is needed

The buzz the last couple of weeks at the county and state level has centered on furloughs and pay as both look to eliminate red ink in their respective budgets.

Meanwhile the folks in Washington are busy hammering out the final details in an economic stimulus package that included a combination of tax cuts and spending aimed at jolting the economy back to life.

At the local level, members of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors did the right thing on Tuesday when they decided — unanimously — not to accept a planned pay raise scheduled to kick in next month.

They are to be commended for taking the matter a step further, setting in motion plans that will make it more readily apparent to the voting public whenever their pay is up for consideration in the future.

But is it enough?

The answer, quite simply, is no.

The decision to turn down the planned pay raise is more symbolism that it is anything else. After all, we’re only talking about a combined total of about $20,605. But in tough economic times, when the county is laying off workers, everything counts.

And let’s look at the layoffs.

A couple of hundred county employees are losing their jobs with the closure next month of county-run clinics in Lindsay and Tulare. Operation of those clinics was given to the folks who operate Tulare District Hospital.

That’s a public hospital district, meaning all the workers there are on the public payroll. So the county’s saving a boatload of money on its bottom line, and the Tulare hospital district is greatly expanding its operations.

And we, the taxpayers, will still foot the bill.

Meanwhile members of Service Employees International Union Local 521 are challenging the county for its handling last fall of failed contract negotiations that saw the county impose a modest pay raise on union members.

Maybe it would be a nice, symbolic gesture on the part of the union to give back the pay raise — as the Board of Supervisors has opted to do — to help the county weather the current financial storm.

And maybe the Board of Supervisors will consider taking a day off each week — say Wednesdays — as a self-imposed furlough ... and take a 20-percent pay cut as well.

The county is, after all, a political subdivision of the state and the state’s already furloughing thousands of workers two Fridays a month to save money.

And let’s look at Sacramento:

Maybe members of the state Assembly and Senate should take a furlough day each week — I like Wednesdays — and take the corresponding 20-percent cut in pay. This would include their paid staff members as well. The same for the governor and all constitutional offices. And the heads of each state department can do likewise — with a corresponding cut in pay.

Now we’re talking real money.

We all know the economy is in dire straits. If the county were a business, its leaders would be making some really tough decisions now about how the organization is structured, and the staffing levels needed to maintain efficient — and profitable — operations. The same holds true for Sacramento.

Instead, we see the county shifting clinic operations to another taxpayer supported govenment entity, when there are any number of private hospitals and health care providers in the area who could have — should have — been allowed to bid on the work.

And we see symbolism — and not a lot of that.  And Sacramento’s looking to steal even more of our money. And our grandchildren’s grandchildren will be paying for an economic stimulus plan that may — or may not — do what it’s intended to do.

Here’s the kicker on the federal stimulus: Anything that comes back to the taxpayers in the form of tax cuts will be taken by the state in the form of new or higher taxes.

Ain’t government grand?

-- Contact Glen Faison at 784-5000, Ext. 1040, or gfaison@portervillerecorder.com.