Reality is catching up

Reality is catching up

Auto plants are trimming production — in Ohio, that includes both the Lordstown General Motors plant and Honda plants in Liberty and Marysville — as the inventory of unsold cars and trucks grows. Some chain merchandisers are filing for bankruptcy. Underperforming stores in other chains are being closed.

These are tough times.

And the tough times are beginning to catch up with government. Some government employees seem to get it more than others.

How elected officials and public employees react to the impending fiscal crisis varies widely. Locally, we see police officers and firefighters facing painful layoffs in Warren. On the other hand, we’ve seen pay raises for a county administrator delayed for years out of political considerations, and then given retroactively. When the raises were finally given, they came just as the county has to prepare for tough negotiations with union workers. In Dayton, city officials came up with a plan to demote 10 district fire chiefs to the rank of captain, with a pay cut of 16 percent. The firefighters’ union reacted by vowing to give the city the fight of its life. Would the union rather see firefighters laid off or brass demoted? Or does it think that Dayton’s payroll is immune to the laws of economics?

Some people get it, some don’t.

But it is inescapable that as commerce slows and income is reduced, government employees are going to feel the pinch. Either there will be fewer of them, or individually they will be paid less — or some combination of the two.

Voluntary sacrifice

Recently the president and dean of the College of Medicine of the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy demonstrated her understanding of these difficult times. Dr. Lois Margaret Nora is giving back one month of her salary to be used for student scholarships and academic support. That’s a personal commitment of $26,666 and it sets a commendable example.

In making her gift, she noted that these are both unique and challenging times for higher education specifically and state government in general. She had earlier directed that a 3 percent pay raise she had been offered be split among members of her executive team.

But as commendable as Dr. Nora’s example is, such individual efforts will not address the financial shortfalls on the horizon for state and local governments.

Gov. Ted Strickland has instructed his cabinet officers to identify cuts totaling 25 percent of their budgets. That is presumably a worst-case scenario, one that would include the loss of thousands of jobs, the closing of some prisons and state parks, reduced funding for education at all levels and even cuts in the National Guard budget.

No one wants it to come to that, and Strickland is hoping for an influx of federal funds. But with or without help from Washington, it is clear that public employees in Ohio at every level — local government, schools, universities and state agencies — are going to feel the pain that comes with a reduction in revenue. How much pain and for how long are the open questions.