(Updated, Aug. 25, 12:30 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri plans to shut down state government for a total of 12 days between September and next June, and he is seeking to withhold $32.5 million in auto tax payments from cities and towns to close a $67.8 million hole in the 2010 state budget.
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Carcieri said the closures would save $21.6 million, assuming that the other branches of government agreed to participate. But neither the General Assembly leadership nor R.I. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell had yet committed to the plan.
“I’m hopeful that they will,” the governor said during a press conference Monday at the Statehouse. “It would be a great sign.”
The scheduled closure days are: Sept. 4, Oct. 9, Oct. 30, Nov. 27, Dec. 24, Jan. 15, Feb. 15, March 12, April 2, April 23, May 28 and June 11. All those days are Fridays except Christmas Eve, which is a Thursday, and Feb. 15, which is a Monday and the day that President’s Day is observed.
The government shutdowns would mean both offices and most services would not be available for residents on those days. Essentially, Carcieri’s plan would amount to a 4.6 percent pay cut for state workers.
“We are very well aware of the impact shutdown days will have on state employees and state services,” the governor said. “For Rhode Islanders, there will be inconveniences; for state employees there is sacrifice. I am asking everyone’s patience, understanding and awareness that these steps are unavoidable if the state is to live within its means.”
Despite the shutdowns, some essential services would continue to operate on those days, Carcieri said, including the state police, 911 and a child abuse hotline operated by the R.I. Department of Children Youth & Families. Employees in those offices will be paid on the shutdown days.
Carcieri said his administration has been talking with state labor union leaders about possible concessions, such as unpaid workdays that would eliminate the need for at least some of the shutdowns.
The governor described unpaid workdays as fairer to both state workers and taxpayers because government agencies would continue to operate, and the loss of pay would be spread more evenly through the state’s payroll.
The state would save $1.4 million on every day it closes, but it would save $2.2 million for every unpaid workday, Carcieri said.
George Nee, secretary-treasurer of the R.I. AFL-CIO union, told public radio station WRNI he believed Carcieri’s plan “would be illegal” under his member’s existing contracts. “It is a unilateral cut in employees’ pay,” Nee said.
While Suttell had not yet agreed to Carcieri’s shutdown plan, the governor informed him that sheriffs, capital police and other state employees would not be available for those days, making it exceedingly difficult for the court system to operate.
“The chief justice understands and wants to be supportive,” Carcieri said.
In another part of Carcieri’s savings plan, he is seeking permission from the General Assembly to be allowed to withhold state appropriations – namely $32.5 million of state aid to local communities in the form of motor vehicle excise tax revenue. Lawmakers voted to strip the governor of that power in the mid-1990s.
Carcieri said he flagged the fourth-quarter payments to cities and town in part to help close the existing $67.8 million budget gap but also to force local government into cost-cutting measures such as regionalization and consolidation.
“We cannot continue to funnel money to cities and towns without their participation in the state’s budget conversation,” Carcieri said.
The governor’s proposal immediately drew the ire of municipal officials, who have already endured significant state aid cuts in the $7.81 billion state budget.
Carcieri refused to say what other appropriations he would seek to withhold if the legislators granted that power.
“We’re going to need some tools to manage our way through this time period,” Carcieri said.
At the outset of the press conference, the governor painted a bleak picture of the state’s tax revenue. He said revenue had declined from $3.4 billion in 2008 to $3 billion in 2009, well below estimates.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if 2010 ends up being weaker,” Carcieri said.
While tax revenue is falling, the governor said, the General Assembly’s 2010 state budget – which he signed in June despite calling it “ill-conceived” – contained $67.8 million in unspecified cuts. “It was put in there as a lump for us to achieve,” he added.
In addition to the shutdowns and the proposed withholding of car tax payment, Carcieri’s plan calls for a $5.2 million cut consulting costs, and $8.9 million in “operational savings,” including $1.6 million from reducing dues, fees and subscriptions and $1 million from outside printing.
Asked why his savings plan added up to $71.24 million instead of $67.8 million, Carcieri smiled. “You always need a little bit more,” he said.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly said one of the 12 planned government shutdown days – Monday, Feb. 15 – was a Friday, based on information provided by the governor’s office.
