The Virginian-Pilot
©
The Virginia Department of Transportation will lay off 678 employees this week - 80 in Hampton Roads - in its latest round of downsizing.
In all, 1,318 full-time and 450 part-time jobs are being eliminated statewide to help offset a $4.6 billion transportation revenue shortfall over the next six years.
In Hampton Roads, 130 full-timers will have been laid off since the restructuring began in June. Information was not available Monday on how many part-time employees were cut locally.
"Basically, we're redefining the way we're operating," said VDOT spokesman Jeff Caldwell.
This was the third, and final, round of cuts to address the shortfall. These cuts focused on administrative and maintenance personnel, Caldwell said. Previous rounds hit construction programs.
The agency will be left with 7,500 full-time employees.
"We have strategically shifted our staffing structure to eliminate redundancies in administrative and business support functions while ensuring our emergency and incident-response commitments can be met statewide," said David S. Ekern, VDOT commissioner. "VDOT will be a stronger, more focused, more efficient agency as we progress into the next decade."
The reductions were announced last February to address the projected shortage. Some rest areas were closed and cuts were made to the state's six-year road building plan. Reductions also were made to the maintenance and operations programs, including ferry services, interstate maintenance and grass cutting.
Laid-off employees will leave the agency in April, although VDOT officials hope to place many of them in vacant jobs within the agency.
"If experience taught us anything ... this does not mean their career is over here," Caldwell said.
He added that of the 640 employees who were severed in the fall, 368 requested other jobs and all but 35 were placed.
"We are doing everything possible to provide employees with choices during this difficult transition," Ekern said.
Meanwhile, the state is facing a budget shortfall that could reach $4 billion this year. Already, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has trimmed about $7 billion from the state budget since 2007 as a result of the recession.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
Nice Timing
If I hadn't been stuck in the 90-minute backup on the Hampton side of the HRBT this morning, I would have found the timing of this article and the fact the backup was mainly due to VDOT just inside the tunnel entrance welding on a manhole cover. Hasn't loose manhole covers been a problem in the past? I guess things will improve now that VDOT has laid off more of their maintenance personnel.
HAHA
I saw that too, but the 90 minute backup is a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like 30 minutes.
Savings?
This is not good, and the restructuring is even worse. What they are not telling you is that much of the work is going to be shifting to contractors. Historically this costs more (contract overhead and profit) and services will be delayed, because there are fewer civil servants to review the process. Who watches the vault now, and whose buddies are going to get the contracts?
Yep, it will look good on paper, but lets see the contracts – oh, I forgot, some of that isn’t open to the public.
Upper Management
It's truly ashame, while laborers and other lower or mid level management are being forced to retire or being layed off that upper management salaries which are in most cases 3 or 4 times what the median income of the Hampton Roads region are, go untouched and unquestioned. This goes for all of our cities, SPSA, VDOT, Dominion, Virginia Natural Gas, and every other entity you can think of. Upper mamagement must have some "Skin in the game." If they don't, they will never be held accountable for the shift in business processes they are suppose to make during poor economic times in order to reduce the amount of layoffs and forced retirements they say they must make, in order to remain profitable. It's really a sad state of affairs for the middle class worker.
Those poor shovels. Who is
Those poor shovels. Who is going to lean against them and hold them up? Odds are good that management didn't get many cuts, but the workers took the brunt. There's nothing wrong with VDOT they hire engineers and supporting staff to plan projects and a workforce to build the projects. Then they contract the design and planing out to other firms and then the actual construction gets sent to an outside contract. This way the planning and building get poor oversight and Vdot has someone to point the finger at after they pay the bill and before they pay again to fix it. Sad about the laid off workers though none of Vdots waste is on them.
Very Sad
This is sad, there isnt even enough jobs in hampton roads to compete with the number of laid off employees that we have had in the last 2 years...expect the homeless rate rate to go up and the crime rate sure will follow it.. i hope i dont offend anyone with this next comment but one of the reasons is because they hire these illegal aliens and pay them under the table at a rate that we citizens cant even live off of..so they figure fire this guy or lay this guy off( that went to school for trade) we are paying 17$ hr to and hire this illegal alien for 9$ and oh well if he get hurt theres another to replace him..
remember
Remember this article the next time it snows or a hurricane comes through. ALL of the maintenance in ouur area is now sub contracted. They make more noney when they spend less, on grass cutting, snow removal, guardrail cleanup..the list goes on and on. Its very true that this is a result of politics and mis-spent moeny. For years each person on the transportation board got their own project. Many years of that, many.
Un fortunately we are the ones who will pay.
Sorry to hear they lost jobs,good luck to those who have spent a lifetime with VDOT.
cut backs
Can the taxpayers expect a cut back or rebate in taxes we have taken from our paychecks since VDOT has stopped fixing potholes ? If this was a private enterprise/contractor we could withhold funds until said repairs were completed. Road maintenance seems to end at the Henrico county line ?
Excuse me but there seems to be a massive amount of concrete being used for the Rip-Off Rail that could be used on I-264.
I know the powers that be will say VDOT & HRT are two separate entities . That's splitting bureaucratic hairs . We get the same BS when they say VIT (Virginia Int'l Terminals) and the VPA (Virginia Port Authority) are in no way connected.
Please refer to previous Post
The Contractors make more money when they do less, ie POTHOLE REPAIR. The potholes on the area interstates are the responsibility of the maintenance Contractors. They make more money when they don't patch potholes, cut grass, etc.
Tough Times
I hate to see folks lose their jobs, but since when is a government job of any kind a guarantee that you'll never be laid off? How can you expect to collect more taxes from the public when 7-10% of them are out of work themselves? I'd personally like to see state jobs and pay linked directly to an employees performance (are you listening VEC and DMV?) instead of being a welfare-to-work program, but maybe private-sector competition and performance expectations are a good idea for government employees who might have mistakenly thought that their federal, state or city job could be their ticket to doing the minimum and expecting the maximum at taxpayer expense. I doubt that many former Ford or International Paper employees could have much sympathy because tough times are everywhere.