Posted on 02/09/2010 9:13:12 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Reporting from Sacramento - Even as the state grappled with a budget crisis last year, bureaucrats spent nearly $45 million on new vehicles, almost $30 million on new furniture and more than $2 million on off-site meetings and conferences, a legislative panel has found.
The expenditures were outlined in a report released Monday by the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review, which plans to call on state agency managers to explain their spending at a hearing Wednesday.
"These expenses came despite an executive order from the governor last year for each state agency to cut costs and eliminate vehicle purchases unless they were for emergency purposes," said Mark Martin, ...
Some agencies said they spent only what was budgeted and necessary to do their jobs.
The report says that the California Air Resources Board spent $433,000 on furniture last year. Agency spokesman Stanley Young said much of the cost was for building cubicles for new employees at its El Monte office.
"We expanded our staff in a couple of areas, and we first checked with other government agencies to see if they had any surplus furniture," Young said.
The agency with the biggest furnishings bill, according to the review, was the Department of Motor Vehicles, which spent $1.7 million. A spokesman said he could not comment because he had not seen the report.
Caltrans spent the most on vehicles last year, tallying $10.4 million in purchases, followed by the Department of Parks and Recreation, which spent $5.2 million, the committee reported. Representatives of those departments did not return calls seeking comment. Administration officials say all of the vehicles purchased since the governor ordered agencies to curb spending in July were for the California Highway Patrol, which purchased $17 million in vehicles and is exempt from the governor's order.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Oh geees Louise. They were just stimulating the economy.. Yaa. that’s it.
Besides, that is a pittance compared to the big enchilada.
Liberals. They continue to destroy CA and the liberal voters just let them.
Our state is sadly dying! We need help and help FAST!
Ah, CARB’s El Monte Office, The Hell Hole of bureaucratic incompetence.
Used to have a great C&W joint there... in El Monte, that is. :-)
The libs and greens have no idea what they have unleashed on those who actually pay taxes in this state.
Taking folks pics everywhere they drive thru is a bit much.. and then taxing you based on mileage to boot if they get their way..
Using the criminal law to “enhance revenue.” “The Leadership” is hell bent on fomenting a revolution.
What irritates me yesterday on Glenn Beck he talks about the Governator’s spending but never mentions the progressives in the Senate and Assembly that propose bills for their pet projects. I have such contempt for them.
Also, he hasn’t a clue about the Latino Caucus that is so corrupt. I know of one instance that one of their cohorts (family members) bought an eighteen wheeler with taxpayer’s money. If we talk about it, we are deemed racist.
Too bad governments (at every level) are not held to account for their waste, fraud, abuse. Too bad they aren't held to the same standards as those in the private sector. I for one, have had enough! I hope there are enough of us fed-up patriots to bring about some much needed change in the way government is run, before it's too late. It may be too late already; but we cannot surely go down without a fight!
Despite budget cuts and layoff warnings, California still hiring and workforce still growing
http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/2094403.html
The Sacramento Bee
Aug. 9, 2009
State job number on upswing despite recession
By George Avalos
California’s state government has managed to add thousands of jobs
during this past year, defying a mammoth budget deficit and a brutal
recession.
The job growth for state workers contrasts with the loss of 759,000
jobs in California’s private industry in the past 12 months:
http://www.mercurynews.com/topstories/ci_12984385?nclick_check=1&forced=true
not to mention gubermint employees and their pensions...
Reform advocates are spotlighting those with extravagant pensions
— $100,000 or more — as a way to get the public’s attention and
emphasize that the current system is unsustainable.
http://www.modbee.com/editorials/story/803636.html
Perhaps the real reason why public-sector pension costs have not been tackled is that the full bill has never been revealed to taxpayers.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13988606
From The Economist print edition
July 9, 2009
EDITORIAL
Dodging the bill-The great public-sector pension rip-off
JOIN a private-sector company these days and you will be very lucky if you get a pension linked to your final salary. In Britain almost three out of four companies that retain such schemes have closed them to new employees. The cost of paying such benefits, which are partly linked to inflation and offer payouts to surviving spouses, is simply too high now that many retirees are surviving into their 80s.
Yet most new public-sector employees in Britain and America continue to benefit from pensions linked to their salaries. The pension costs facing the public sector are roughly the same as those facing the private sector; their employees are likely to live just as long. But because of the presumed largesse of future taxpayers, governments seem under much less pressure to reduce their pension costs. In 2005 a reform package in Britain raised the retirement age for new state employees, but still left existing employees able to retire at 60.
Private sector can’t afford public sector employees
The Government Accounting Standards Board
instituted what is known as GASB 45, a reporting system requiring
cities, towns, states and other political entities to disclose
liabilities associated with other than pension post-employment
benefits (OPEB). This should be fully implemented by the end of the
2009 fiscal year.
This increased transparency will disclose an unbelievable $1.5
trillion in just unfunded health care obligations!
And that’s not all. USA Today reports that “The federal government
has unfunded obligations of $1.2 trillion to pay for retired health
care for retired federal workers ... and Medicare and Social
Security obligations pushing the total to more than $5 trillion.”
What happened to the good old days when a billion dollars was a lot
of money? Sooner or later taxpayers are going to wake up and things will get nasty.
This taxpayer backlash will not be entirely politically motivated.
Not all Democrats have government jobs. An overwhelming majority of
state, local and federal employees are Democrats, who, if legally
permitted, belong to public sector unions - a massive voting bloc of
22.5 million, including retirees. The federal government is the
nation’s largest single employer, even excluding the Postal Service.
And state and local governments employ more people than any other
sector of our economy.
It is no mystery the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports
74 percent of budget gaps are in blue states! And Florida is counted
as red, which is debatable after Obama’s ascension in 2008. New York
has a $13 billion budget deficit, a mere bagatelle compared to
California at $42 billion. The similarities between General Motors,
New York and California are striking: None can afford its employees.
The moral of this story is: If the private sector were forced to pay
these same salaries and benefits, we would have exported all our
jobs by now - along with all the companies that provide these jobs.
A good starting point to cure retirement benefit underfunding would
be to slowly shrink the size of our governments by taking attrition.
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