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Today's Poll!Keith: MoDOT reductions moving toward construction goal
Friday, October 7, 2011
The Missouri Transportation Department’s plan to cut its workforce, property and equipment appears to be moving more quickly than expected toward its March 31, 2013, goal, Director Kevin Keith told the Highways and Transportation Commission in Springfield on Wednesday.
The six-member commission OK’d the “Bolder Five-Year Direction” plan in June, approving the proposal by Keith and other MoDOT administrators to reduce the department’s staff by 1,200 employees, close 131 facilities and dispose of more than 740 pieces of equipment, like trucks and road-graders.
At the end of September, Keith reported, MoDOT had reduced its staff by 667 positions since Feb. 28, 2010 — leaving 529 jobs, statewide, still to go in the next 18 months.
“We are more than halfway to our goal in less than half of the anticipated time we allowed for the downsizing process,” Keith and his staff reported in a 12-page printed update of the plan’s progress.
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Comments
redenamel 1 year, 7 months ago
I know no one really cares because I've been trying to get someone to notice for months, but the Bolder Five Year Plan is a sham to cover up the waste of billions in tax dollars. MoDOT's budget was around $600 million before Amendment 3 was passed in 2004. The Highway Commission needlessly sold bonds backed by the Amendment 3 money and other sources, and with the proceeds boosted the budget to $1.2 billion for four or five years. Now that loan money is spent, and it's time to pay off the bonds at over $200 million per year for the next 20 years. $2.2 billion will be paid in interest alone! They've overspent, so now to be able to match federal funds and go back to their previous $600 million budget, their answer is to get the money off the backs of their workforce. For more information, please see my newstribune.com blog at newstribune.com/weblogs/redenamel/
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