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ERIP is a Start
Posted 05-23-2001
April 30th was the final day of service for employees who took advantage of
Westmoreland County's Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP). Out of
about 210 employees who were eligible for the program, 94 took advantage of
it. Our actuary told us that the norm is about 25% to 33%. Our percentage of
44% is higher, and it provides us with a foundation to streamline the county
payroll.
We have recognized with
sizeable deficits looming in 2003, actions must be taken now to begin to
reduce expenditures. Payroll is certainly an expenditure that continues to
escalate. Our first effort to reduce that expenditure was the ERIP. The
total value of salaries of those taking the retirement package was $2.8
million. If we could permanently eliminate that amount we'd be in great
shape. But, it is not that simple.
Some of those retiring must
be replaced. Nurses and some department heads will have to be replaced. The
replacements won't initially earn as much, so some savings will be
recognized. Other retirees were from departments under independent elected
officials or the courts, and the Commissioners do not control if they are
replaced. In those instances too, the replacements will likely earn less, so
some initial savings will be recognized.
The real challenges are the
departments under the commissioners. We have to be creative, innovative, and
disciplined to make things work operationally, yet gain significant savings.
So far the sequence of events appears to be disturbing to some remaining
personnel. They don't seem to appreciate why we offered the early retirement
and our resolve to do more with less. It is somewhat disappointing to have
managers continue to request each vacancy be filled without first trying to
do the job with less people. I am confident in most cases, we can function
with less people.
This experience of a
reduction in the size of the workforce through an early retirement program
has been an interesting glimpse of how difficult it is to make changes in
the institution of government. Throughout the last fifteen years, there was
a pervasive attitude that county government needed to hire more and more
people to meet every new challenge. As I've said before, at the same time we
were investing millions of dollars in technology. The investment in
technology was to increase productivity and allow us to do more with less.
But that phenomenon never really seemed to happen.
In some areas of government,
the volume of activity has increased. Cases in the courts particularly have
increased. But technology should allow caseworkers, probation officers, and
clerical employees to do their jobs more efficiently. Standards for
caseloads set most often by state government should account for
technological advances. But I doubt that they do. In departments such as
purchasing, financial administration, and public works, we are simply going
to have to learn to do more with less people and truly utilize the
technology that is available. In the commissioners' office, where we were
pretty lean to begin with, we have tried to lead by example. When former
Commissioners' Coordinator John Pallone left, we eliminated the position.
One of the most difficult
parts of the job of commissioner is saying no to employees. There is a
natural inclination to try to make people happy. However, the nature of this
job, if you want to do it right, in light of the financial challenges ahead,
is to take a very conservative stance about adding to the payroll. In this
instance, we've had a voluntary reduction to the workforce. By simply being
very judicious about filling vacancies, we can reduce the payroll without an
involuntary separation of workers. It isn't going to make the commissioners
very popular with managers and other employees, but it is the right thing to
do. |
