Council Packet: Is Weast interested in "greater good?"

From the Montgomery County Council packet for May 4, 2010:

The key element of any furlough plan is participation by MCPS, which employs two-thirds of the agencies' combined workforces of more than 30,000. MCPS' reluctance to participate is understandable -no one likes furloughs -but the reasons for MCPS to participate are compelling:

•MCPS employees are very important but so are the employees of County Government, the College, or M-NCPPC.

•FY 11 is a very difficult budget year for all agencies, but in the Executive's March 15 budget, and again the Executive's April 22 budget adjustments, MCPS fared better than the other agencies. On an apples-to-apples basis, its tax supported budget is unchanged from FY10 (although there are 2.0 percent more students). By contrast, in the April 22 budget adjustments, County Government -including fire, police, and safety net services is down 7.7 percent, the College is down 3.7 percent (with 7.3 percent more students), and M-NCPPC is down 15.8 percent.

These reductions translate into large-scale service reductions and abolishments of filled positions, with inevitable layoffs. l  MCPS' share of the budget for the four agencies combined was 54.0 percent for FYI0 Approved. MCPS' share rose to 56.8 percent for FYll Recommended (March 15) and 57.2 percent for FYll Recommended (April 22).

•MCPS provides more generous health and retirement benefits than does any other agency. MCPS pays on average 91 percent of health insurance premiums, compared to 85 percent for MNCPPC,

80 percent for County Government (76 percent for some employees), and 75 percent for Montgomery College. MCPS' retirement plan is strikingly more generous, and more costly, than the plans in which 5,000 County Government employees (those represented by MCGEO and non-represented employees hired since October I, ] 994) are able to participate.

•As noted above, school districts nationwide have implemented furloughs without affecting instructional days or the classroom. This is precisely what College faculty will be doing.

•Apart from teachers, MCPS has thousands of employees in job classes similar to those of the other agencies. Building service workers, librarians, central staff (budget, finance, human resources, IT), attorneys, managers, administrators, and many other job classes at MCPS are common to all agencies. If employees in these classes can be furloughed at the other agencies, they can be furloughed at MCPS as well.

•Savings from MCPS' participation in furloughs could ease the inequitable impact of the Executive's plan on County Government employees, especially lower-wage employees. Currently 2,626 MCPS employees have salaries of more than $100,000 per year.

•Savings from MCPS' participation in furloughs could mitigate the Executive's proposed doubling of the energy tax and/or selected spending cuts that arguably go too far. These include some proposed cuts for libraries, health and human services, parks, the College, and other vital County functions that are important to MCPS as well.

For MCPS, the issue is not the ability to participate in an equitable furlough plan the ability is clear beyond any doubt -it is the willingness to do so for the greater good.

Footnote: 1. To keep MCPS level funded in FYll, the Executive has recommended unprecedented reductions for other agencies. In County Government, even core departments that have never seen year-over-year reductions are down, including Fire and Rescue (-2.6 percent), Police (-5.0 percent), and HHS (-10.9 percent). Other reductions include Corrections (-5.5 percent), Transit Services (-8.1 percent), Libraries (-24.2 percent), Housing and Community Affairs (-24.3 percent), and Transportation (-24.8 percent). The Executive has recommended the abolishment of 466 positions in County Government, of which 244 are filled. The Executive'S proposed 15.8 percent reduction for MNCPPC also translates into large-scale program cuts and position abolishments.