Patrick Lyons
While Gov. Bill Richardson puts forward a plan to furlough state workers for five days over the holidays and into next year, state Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons says his own smart fiscal decisions mean he doesn’t have to do the same thing in his office.
“(Richardson’s) plan won’t hurt the political appointees who take home over $100,000 a year, but the classified employees who earn a fraction of that will feel the crunch, especially around the holiday season,” Lyons said in a news release blasting the governor. “It’s cruel.”
“It’s the governor’s reckless fiscal policy that got us into this mess, and now state employees are expected to bail him out,” Lyons said.
Lyons pointed to his own, self-described “conservative spending habits” in the news release “as the reason his employees won’t go without this holiday season.” From the release:
“During his seven-year tenure as land commissioner, the Land Office has generated a record $3 billion for the trust beneficiaries; he has consistently requested a flat budget of $13 million; reverted $5.85 million in unspent budgeted monies; reduced staff by four full time equivalents (FTEs); and not paid any employee more than $100,000 annually.”
Richardson can only furlough employees under his control by executive order, so his plan will not affect employees who work for other elected officials and the legislative and judicial branches of government.