State administrators warn of layoffs if budget cuts go through

Governor Vilsack’s top administrators warn some state agencies would be nearly shut down if Republicans enact 40-million dollars in cuts in this year’s state budget. Department of Management director Cynthia Eisenhauer says over 31-hundred state workers would have to be laid-off in May, June and July. She says as the economy softens, demand for services will go up.After the layoffs, she says the Department of Education would have just 20 people on the payroll. And the Alcoholic Beverages Division would have to be completely shutdown — forcing the state to loose about six million dollars in hard liquor sales from the state warehouse. Eisenhauer says there are a few items on the G-O-P list which the Governor might accept. But she says any of the proposed cuts that would hurt the goverment’s ability to “deliver on its statutory promises, should be vetoed.”Eisenhauer says there’s enough cushion in the present state budget to make-up for lagging tax revenues. Eisenhauer says legislators instead should focus on fixing next year’s state budget plan, which starts on July 1st.Republicans reject the doom and doom scenario about layoffs. Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson of Dows says there are other ways to economize. Iverson says tax revenues are down, and action must be taken now. He says they want to take action instead of playing politics with the issue.Governor Tom Vilsack defends the doomsday predictions his agency chiefs are making about the impact of Republican budget cuts. Vilsack says layoffs are just about all the can be done with just three months left in the state budget year.But Vilsack isn’t ruling out the possibility he might approve some of the budget cuts Republican suggest.Vilsack talked with reporters by phone today from Washington, D-C, where he and the rest of the nation’s Governors are meeting.