Letter To The Editor

Dear Editor,
How is it that there are over 2000 new state hires a month at the same time that California is faced with a budget deficit?

There are 6 simple steps to reducing the California state budget deficit:
1. Pay no state employee more than $100,000(for 2010, then add COLA); remove administrative perks, including free cars…save $1 billion a year.

2. Freeze all state hiring and salaries until the budget is balanced…save $2 billion a year.

3. Reform pension system(convert to defined contribution plans)…save $3.5 billion a year.

4. Cap administrative costs for all state agencies, prisons, schools and colleges at a maximum of 20% of each agency’s budget(or at the 1990 percentage of budget, whichever is less)…save $15 billion a year.

5. Reform prisons, including prison population reduction…save $1 billion.

6. Cut all state salaries by 10%..save $3 billion a year.

Total savings per year: $25.5 billion
Cut from the top down, not from the bottom up, until the budget is balanced.  Keep the workers on the job, and get rid of the avaricious unions.
 To avoid future budget crises, institute a hard spending cap, with zero budget growth until the annual surplus equals 5 percent of tax income.  No new bond issues, and no tax decreases or rollbacks.
Require all state managers and administrators to view the 1924 film “Greed.”
Evan Jones,
Sacramento