There are now three “certain things in life,” death, taxes and BUREAUCRACY!
Before you start believing the “Henny Penny” protesters that the sky is going to fall if the Florida Legislature cuts the budget instead of raising taxes, you need to read the 56 page budget proposal posted online by the Florida House Majority office. In their budget-cutting proposal, it seems that Florida’s paper-pushing bureaucrats don’t need to worry about their jobs like people in the business world.
The government positions being eliminated are almost exclusively vacant positions! If we have that many vacancies in state government and the average taxpayer still hasn’t noticed, then we haven’t cut enough. So when you hear “x number of government jobs eliminated,” don’t be fooled into thinking that current expenditures in the form of “paper pushers” are being cut. No, it’s merely vacant positions that just won’t be filled next year. For example:
· Department of Health: eliminates 479 vacant positions and 10 filled positions
· Department of Children and Families: eliminates 61 vacant positions
· Agency for Persons with Disabilities: eliminates 140 vacant positions
· Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles: no eliminations
· Department of Military Affairs: no eliminations
· Also, the House budget reduces the salaries for both Senators and Representatives by 5%