"Inefficient government."
"Big, bloated bureaucracy."
State employees: That's not your next-door neighbor's weekly rant. That's your new governor.
We can only imagine the collective gasp that must have exuded from state workers when Gov. Eric Greitens on Tuesday stated his intention to further reduce Missouri's public workforce.
Previous Gov. Jay Nixon already slimmed the ranks by several thousand people.
Greitens essentially said Missouri could pay its state workers better if there were fewer to pay. And there should be fewer, he believes.
"Our best state employees are being hurt by a big, bloated bureaucracy," Greitens said. "In Indiana, they have 46 state employees per 10,000 people. In Illinois, they have 47 state employees for every 10,000 people. In Ohio, they have 55.
"And in Missouri? We have 92 employees for every 10,000 people in our state."
Jefferson City's two House members, Rep. Jay Barnes and Rep. Mike Bernskoetter, questioned whether that's an apples-to-apples comparison, saying more research is needed.
Greitens compared running the state to running a good business: "We'd pay and promote our best people and make sure they know they are valued," he said.
State workers make up about one-third of the Jefferson City workforce. So Jefferson City's economy partly hinges on the ability of state workers in this town to keep their jobs and receive salary increases.
Still, the health of our local economy isn't justification for us to argue against efficiencies that could maintain services at less cost to taxpayers.
Government, just like private business, should always look at ways to streamline operations. But we question how many "bloated" areas are left in state government.
We can always cite isolated instances of that one high-paid person in the office who seems to have time to surf the internet all day. That's true in both the public and private workforce.
But it's not the norm. Most state workers earn every penny they make, and then some.
So let's not throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. We urge the governor and lawmakers to study the issue thoughtfully, free of preconceived notions or partisanship, before taking any action.
News Tribune