Last week we pointed out that, contrary to his claims, Governor Newsom’s proposed budget is not balanced. Today we examine his claim on page 85 to “government efficiency and cost saving measures” that produce a savings of $618 million from eliminating vacant positions.
In the year Newsom took over from Jerry Brown, the Executive Branch hosted 211,000 jobs on which the state spent $19.5 billion in salaries:
Since then, Newsom has expanded staffing by 44,000 positions and salaries by $8.6 billion per year:
$618 million of savings is helpful but it’s just seven percent of the increase in annual payroll since Newsom took office. It’s worth noting that in 2013 Newsom published Citizenville in which he extolled the virtues of relying less on bureaucracy but as governor he has expanded it.
For another view, see Schedule 6 of the budget, which includes all state employees and spending. General Fund expenditures per Capita have risen 65% since Newsom took office. Have public services per Capita improved at all — much less 65% — since then?
We’ll have more to say about the budget proposal.
