Nonessential Government

Two weeks ago, Governor Doyle of Wisconsin reported that the state is facing a growing budget deficit. The budget woes of Wisconsin are the latest in a string of fiscal shortfalls announced by government entities across the country. Ranging from local school districts to states like California where the coming year deficit could amount to $18 billion, governments at various levels are discovering that tax receipts will be well shy of bureaucratic desires.

State officials lay the blame for these deficits on the slowing economy and declining home valuations. In order to shrink the budget gap, the Governor proposed a hiring freeze on nonessential government employees.

You need to look no further than this cost-cutting suggestion to see the problem. The hiring freeze of nonessential employees speaks volumes as to what is wrong with modern-day government and the plague of budget deficits. If a program or position is deemed nonessential, then why would they continue to exist, or be hired in the first place?

The total cost of nonessential employees and programs is no frivolous matter. Like an iceberg, the real danger to the taxpayers lies just beneath the surface of government employee pay. The associated pension benefits paid toward nonessential workers, as it is with all other government personnel, equates to over $1 million per recipient, which in most states is entirely funded by the taxpayers. The dollar amount needed to cover present retirees and the future pension liabilities of current state employees around the country is an astronomical $3 trillion. In New Jersey, the current unfunded pension liability alone stands north of $25 billion. One analyst has estimated that the true figure could be as high as $55 billion.

What constitutes a nonessential part of government probably depends on the particular viewpoint of the individual. During a budget crisis or shutdown of services, top government officials can provide some clues to what a nonessential program is.

Last summer during a shutdown of the Pennsylvania state government, Governor Rendell furloughed all state workers not critical to health or safety. Government services deemed unnecessary at the time included drivers’ license bureaus, state parks, and museums.

Two years before the Pennsylvania shutdown, a Minnesota budget impasse resulted in that state closing drivers’ license bureaus, traffic message boards, social programs, and all but eight rest areas.

Nearly 45,000 state employees were temporarily out of work during a 2006 shutdown of the New Jersey state government. Again, services affected ran the gambit of state parks and licensing bureaus and gambling control.

You can rest assure what is true about nonessential government workers at the local and state level also applies even more to the federal government. When Congress and President Clinton could not resolve budget differences in 1995, nonessential federal employees were sent home. The employees who would not report for work at Housing and Urban Development were 99%, nearly 90% at the Department of Education, over 80% at Treasury and State Departments, and the Departments of Labor and Interior exceeded 70%. Not only did all the affected employees return to work a month later, but their numbers have continued to grow since the dispute was resolved.

President Bush recently released his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year, which totals over$3 trillion. Using the 1995 federal government shutdown as a point of reference, one must wonder how much of this spending ends up in the pockets of nonessential workers and the budgets of ineffective programs. In their 2007 report the Office of Management and Budget found over 25% of federal programs as either ineffective or unable to show demonstrated results. This does not include federal departments that have no grounding under the Constitution.

Under the founding principles of individual liberty, the purposes of government are to establish and defend the rule of law, plus protect private property from external threats. An addition to government outside of this concept increases the financial burden to taxpayers and diminishes our individual freedoms.

A government budget crisis always brings cries of impending disaster from the bureaucracy. The citizens, however, should seize the opportunity to take back some of their wealth and to recapture their precious liberties.

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