OK, let’s have a quick show of hands. How many of you have gone from one year to the next without a pay raise?The rest contains a decent proposal for helping balance the budget, and cut spending.....by not increasing spending. But it won't be a popular one.
For that matter, how many have seen your income reduced in a down economy? And although you certainly didn’t enjoy it, weren’t you relieved you still had a job at all when compared with your co-workers who’d been laid off?
Consider then, the plight of Washington state’s public-sector workers, whose employer – like yours, maybe – is having a hard time making ends meet. In fact, based on numbers released this week by the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, the state is projected to take in $900 million less than it expects to spend during the next biennium.
Which isn’t to suggest the state is strapped for cash. In fact, the same projections show state revenue increasing by $1.5 billion for 2013-2015 and by $3.1 billion for 2015-2017.
It just isn’t increasing as the demand to spend it.
So what would it take to bring the budget back into balance? How about asking state workers to share a little of your pain?
So, contact your state legislators (use this handy web site), and let them know what you think about the next budget. Now is your chance to do so, before it's approved.
