Carcieri’s Billion Dollar Goodbye
Thursday, December 16, 2010
As the clock ticks toward Christmas and the end of another year, the conclusion of the governorship of Donald L. Carcieri is also approaching. Though the passing of 2010 may not find the weary Rhode Island taxpayer, slogging through this prolonged recession, in the mood to celebrate, they actually have something significant to cheer about, whether they know it or not. Governor Don Carcieri was a warrior for the Rhode Island taxpayer and there’s a billion dollars to prove it. During his eight years in office, Carcieri’s administration managed to save the state’s taxpayers an estimated $ 1 Billion Dollars through a series of government streamlining measures and public employee compensation reforms. It is hard to overstate how impressive that is when one reflects on the climate in which Carcieri achieved this.
The outgoing Governor’s billion dollar projection is supported by state budget documents which show reduced costs in more than a dozen major categories. But it seems the bulk of the savings were generated through reforms made in public employee compensation packages, both for those currently working and for the ranks of the public employee retirees. Though those of us in the taxpayer advocacy trenches often view pension reform and other elements of employee compensation overhauls as coming too modestly and too slow, it’s important to note Carcieri managed to achieve overall pension reform through changes in age, actual benefits, and COLA’s for retiring workers totaling close to $400 million over his years in office. Naturally, those changes had to come about through the passing of budget legislation which meant collaborative efforts with key members of the General Assembly. Union leaders, especially those representing the state workforce, reluctantly participated in the processes which eventually produced reforms. But unfortunately, more often than not, the reaction from union leadership to any of the Governor’s initial workforce reduction proposals usually amounted to a four word response: “See you in court.” No one is saying it was easy to reach a billion in savings.
Carcieri’s achievements in reigning in the cost of government did not solve all our fiscal woes but certainly slowed the spiraling costs of public employee compensation and those savings should serve as a benchmark for the incoming Chafee Administration, especially as it stages a Budget Summit and delves into its own budget reviews in the days to come. Chafee’s often repeated mantra of the campaign was a call for key constituencies to “work together” to find solutions to our serious and mounting fiscal problems. An olive branch to key constituencies is a gesture generally expected of an incoming Administration. But there is a world of difference between extending an olive branch—and waving a white flag of surrender. Governor Carcieri sure knew the difference. We can only hope Governor-Elect Chafee will learn to recognize it. Court battles with the unions, worker protests on the state house lawn, tough headlines and tougher rhetoric—you name it, Carcieri saw it. But he weathered it all because he seemed to decide early on that reducing the size—and cost—of state government was the necessary and right thing to do for the state and its taxpayers. That unwavering conviction saw him through and as he prepares to exit the stage, he is owed our great thanks for it.
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Donna Perry is a Communications Consultant to RISC www.statewidecoalition.com