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By Zinie Chen Sampson
RICHMOND
The Virginia Department of Transportation is informing about 600 full-time workers - including about 50 in Hampton Roads - that they're losing their jobs.
VDOT Commissioner David Ekern said Monday that the agency is notifying individual employees in its central Richmond office and its nine districts this week about the job reductions. They are part of a previously announced plan to cut 1,000 full-time and 450 part-time workers to help address a projected six-year, $2.6 billion revenue shortfall. The agency currently has about 8,200 workers and is required to reduce staffing to 7,500 employees by next July.
The full-time worker layoffs follow last month's reductions of part-timers. A final wave of layoffs is expected in the winter. Overall, the job cuts are expected to save the state about $391 million over six years, Ekern said.
The cuts announced this week will mainly affect workers statewide in preliminary engineering and construction, as road construction projects are being cut by $2 billion, or about 36 percent, over the next six years, Ekern said.
They include employees who help prepare construction plans, serve on inspection and survey crews, and assist with right-of-way acquisition.
Also affected will be the agency's equipment shops - more than half will be closed because of equipment reductions and increased efficiency in maintenance practices.
In Hampton Roads, equipment shops at Waverly, Williamsburg and the Elizabeth River tunnels are being closed.
Employees of the Dulles Toll Road also will face layoffs when the state turns it over to the Metropolitan Airports Authority on Oct. 1.
Ekern stressed that emergency-response services, inspections and maintenance won't be affected by the layoffs.
Workers can apply for vacant jobs at VDOT or in other state agencies. Those who opt out of placement services will be laid off Sept. 9; those who use them but are unable to find jobs will be let go Oct. 24.
In addition to layoffs and cuts in construction spending, VDOT also cut $348 million from its maintenance and operations program, resulting in the decision to close 19 interstate rest areas.
Pilot writer Bill Sizemore contributed to this report.
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Growth continues
In 1999, this area had a population of 1,561,900. By 2008, we had a population of 1,644,903. By my calculations, that is an increase of 83,003 citizens. So this area is still growing. I acknowledge that the rapid growth of the 1980's has subsided, and frankly, that is a positive development as our current rate of growth is certainly sustainable if we simply make the right investment choices.
just incase
you need a little help with your facts http://hamptonroadsperforms.org/indicators/economy/net-migration.php
oh my how liberals lie
Recent Change in Net Migration, By MSA, July 2006 to July 2007
Total Population Change
Geographic area Number* Percent Natural Increase (Births / Deaths) Total Net Migration Inter-
national Migration Internal Migration
Virginia 71,842 0.9 47,455 24,414 21,455 2,959
United States 2,866,338 1.0 1,828,681 1,037,657 1,037,657
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC -2,236 -0.1 11,520 -14,082 357 -14,439
Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC 66,724 4.2 14,878 51,904 5,671 46,233
Jacksonville, FL 22,197 1.7 8,871 13,224 1,573 11,651
Raleigh-Cary, NC 47,052 4.7 10,995 36,081 4,523 31,558
Savannah, GA 7,839 2.4 2,382 5,422 350 5,072
Culpeper, VA -- leading VA MSA 1,552 3.5 374 1,193 61 1,132
my, my, only developers could see negative numbers and call that growth.
Third World Country
Sorry, I did not mean to strike a raw nerve. Yes, our employees do telecommute, we have flexible hours, and many work four days a week. We do our best to lessen impact on the roads. Hampton Roads has grown in population over the last decade, and added to that is that a far higher ratio of our population now owns and drives a car. Add to that the military personnel who may not have been counted, and the congestion at our choke points, and I would suggest that only the most die hard, anti tax zealots beliive that our transportation assets are being maintained and sustained in a satisfactory manner. You would think that the condition of our roads, bridges, rest stops, tunnels would be proof enough, but if your ideology is to cut, cut, cut, I guess you must learn to live with the consequences. Boy have we learned; I only hope our voters will remember and elect new delegates to replace the republicans in the House who have brought our transportation infrastructure to the condition of a third world country.
WRONG!!!
"those of us engaged in private enterprise".. you have blurred the line between public and private enterprise to the point it is indistinguishable. Your own manipulations of the political process where the public sector is financing your projects is exactly what has led the country to the mess it is in now. A BILLION dollars for a people mover who's only real purpose is to enrich a handful of individuals is a prime example. Sell it to someone else, you don't have anyone here fooled.
Actually Mike
as usual you are wrong. I have never worked for the government and I am far from retirement (and you and your democratic cronies will ensure that younger generations do not even know the meaning of the word retirement), which is exactly why I would like to keep as much of the money I toil for in my pocket instead of seeing it transferred to you. Furthermore, you and your government cronies have increase the size of the government work force, at all levels, more than 20% over the past decade we have seen a flat growth rate of 4% during that same time period. We know these folks keep voting for your democratic cronies so they can maintain their cushy government jobs at the expense of tax paying citizens such as myself. You keep talking about growth and new developments when we have so many empty homes and empty shopping centers. All your development is doing is shifting people from one neighborhood to the other. Hampton Roads has consistently lost population over the last decade--despite high birth rates. So who are you developing for Mike?
Sense you want to get so personal Mike...
Why don't you provide us some real numbers Mike? Let us start with some easy ones.....How many of your employees at Runnymede telecommute to their jobs? How many of them work flex schedules such as 6am to 2pm or 10am to 6pm so they aren't contributing to rush hour madness? How about at SPSA....no paper pushers there that could do their job via Citrix?
When you publish these numbers and we can see you are making a real effort to find solutions that don't involve picking the pockets of your neighbors then maybe you will have some credibility on this issue.
No argument
It is very easy to tell that 2cents is a retired federal bureaucrat becasue of his contempt for those of us engaged in private enterprise. Since all of his needs have been met by the public sector, he has absolutely no appreciation for those who toil in private businesses to pay the taxes necessary to support the federal and state bureaucracy. I for one don't begrudge those who make that choice; afterall, I worked for both the federal and the local government at different points in my career. His response to anyone who advocates for the programs and services necessary for civil society is to challenge that person to pay for it themselves. He of course receives the benefits attained through his public service with no thought to those who contribute toward it. A adequate transportation network is absolutely essential to prosperity, and I don't think there should be any argument about that.
revenue from dmv
Here's an idea, one I'm sure others have thought about:
Kill the requirement for front license plates, then either keep the plate renewal rates the same. The production cost savings would then be placed in to VDOT's coffers. I know monies saved wouldn't be enough to build the "third" crossing or other needed projects, but every little bit helps.
The only problem here would be ensuring VDOT doesn't squander it away.
Fair taxation proposal
Why don't we put a tax proposal on the table that will finally take the burden off of everyday working families and put it on the people getting the most out of continued growth.
It is time we tax the developers 10% of the GROSS, INDEPENDENTLY assessed value of a FINISHED product. These developers want to keep building and building, sprawling and sprawling.....well it is high time they pay for what they want. Supplement this with a 5% annual tax on GROSS proceeds from rents or sales.
And just to make the demoralcrats happy we can put it all in a "lockbox" so they can't steal it and give it away to the non-tax paying welfare voters.