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| Texas Prison Cuts to Include 88 Layoffs |
| By Houston Chronicle |
| Published: 02/25/2003 |
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State government continued to tighten its belt Monday with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's announcement that it will lay off 88 employees, about one-third of the positions responsible for prison maintenance. Most of the affected workers in the facilities division are in Huntsville, agency spokesman Larry Todd said. He said other staff reductions may be forthcoming but added that the agency -- which has custody of almost 150,000 convicts in 105 prisons -- won't jeopardize public safety. Todd said the $250,000 monthly savings won't directly affect the Legislature's efforts to bridge a $9.9 billion revenue shortfall because the affected positions are paid with bond proceeds, not general tax revenue. 'We have a responsibility to review all agency operations, not just those funded with general revenue,' TDCJ Executive Director Gary L. Johnson said in a memo to Al Sailer, the facilities division's director. Johnson instructed Sailer to 'develop a plan to reduce bond-funded filled positions by not less than one-third (approximately 88 filled positions) as a first step. 'Be prepared for further reductions in the near future,' he added. Johnson said the state Bond Review Board had indefinitely postponed the issuance of $80 million in construction bonds that had been appropriated to the agency for this fiscal year. Additional bond proceeds for the next budget period also were unlikely, he said. 'With limited construction funds, it is all the more imperative that we reduce salary expenditures to make these limited funds available for project work,' Johnson said. The agency isn't building new prisons, but bond proceeds, which are repaid with tax funds, are used for renovations and other maintenance projects. The affected workers will include architects, planners, clerks, administrators and others, Todd said. 'We're emphasizing no threat to public safety,' he added. |
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