So the word “doomsday” may be a bit loaded and even a little over the top. But it sure must feel like that for many local governments around the state lately as the layoff parade hits the road pretty hard in many communities.
We have written a lot about what the failure to reform government worker compensation packages means for local governments. As the stories continue to trickle about regarding layoffs of public safety personnel and teachers, instead of rehashing our arguments, we thought we might just post some quick blogs highlighting some of the most painful cases coming to our attention.
This edition features Westerville City Schools as reported by the Columbus Dispatch,
“About 113 teaching jobs would be eliminated, up from 100 listed in the “total teachers” category of the proposal that the board could vote on Jan. 23.
Some teaching positions were included elsewhere on a report listing the 221 full-time jobs that would be cut.”
Whatever happened to repealing Senate Bill 5 saving jobs?
As you hear about similar stories in your community, let us know by e-mailing us at info@buckeyeinstitute.org. It is important to highlight just what is happening out there and making the connection that absent reform, it will only get worse.
If the choice is between laying off government employees or raising taxes, the public is going to go with the latter the great majority of the time.
The main down side of this is that the ones getting the pink slips are the young who are typically the most productive — especially in the teaching profession.