http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-894739.mp3
Kansas City, Mo. – Another 1,000 Missouri state employees are going to lose their jobs in the coming weeks. Governor Jay Nixon spoke of the cuts as he met with UMKC faculty and students.
The cuts are part of the governor's blueprint to resize state government. 18 hundred state workers have already been trimmed during Nixon's 15 months in office. Many of the newest layoffs will come from state child support offices in the counties. Those will be consolidated for thrift; "the biggest piece we're looking at is a project to get some models to privatize some of the child support collections, especially in the modification area, that being one of our targets that's in the hundreds of employees."
The governor expects reports next week on restructuring the child support system. The state is in the hole $500 million.
As part of the resizing plan, the governor finds it feasible to merge the Highway Patrol and Water Patrol and has ordered state employees to cut travel by 10 percent next year. He says it will save taxpayers more than $2 million a year
The governor says unnecessary space is being slashed and by June 30th will have eliminated 48 thousand square feet of leased space with more to come by end of the calendar year.
The governor says it will save at least $3 million a year.