NEWS

A point of pride or dismay? Branstad cuts 2,100 state jobs in 6 years

Jason Clayworth
jclayworth@dmreg.com

Iowa has cut nearly 2,100 full-time state government jobs since Terry Branstad was re-elected in 2011, a point of pride for the nation's longest-serving governor, but one that critics contend is jeopardizing employee safety and performance.

Gov. Terry Branstad takes questions in front of the Nativity scene placed at the State Capitol by the Thomas More Society Monday, Dec. 12, 2016.

Branstad has eliminated at least 2,094 full-time positions in state government, according to a Des Moines Register analysis of data from the Iowa Department of Administrative Services.

Most of those job cuts — nearly 11 percent of the state government executive branch workforce, minus universities, occurred in four departments: human services (839); transportation (232); workforce development (244); and corrections (262), the Register found.

The Register's analysis examined the areas of government most directly influenced by the governor's direction, which are tracked by the Iowa Department of Management. The review does not include positions that might be eliminated as a result of the Legislature's recent budget cuts, which aren't reflected in the data the Register analyzed.

The departments cut most deeply have also been publicly scrutinized for their handling of high-profile cases involving child neglect, prison security that has resulted in injured guards, and ongoing questions about privatizing the state's Medicaid program.

Also contributing to the job cuts are the closure of 36 unemployment offices, two mental health facilities, the Iowa juvenile home in Toledo, seven DOT maintenance garages and two driver's license stations.

"I think this is part of his (Branstad's) legacy. It's one of his main points he used to get elected, but I think the focus was in the wrong areas to accomplish it," said Ron Forget, a former corrections officer for Iowa prisons in Newton and Mitchellville who contends that reduced staffing led to assaults against himself and other prison employees.

"Staffing levels are very important in an institution," Forget said. "If you leave any kind of vacuum, something is going to fill that vacuum and if that vacuum is staff, you’re going to have predators step forward and fill the void."

"I think this is part of his legacy. It's one of his main points he used to get elected but I think the focus was in the wrong areas to accomplish it," said Ron Forget, a former corrections officer for Iowa prisons in Newton and Mitchellville. Here he poses for a photo in front of the Mitchellville prison on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, in Mitchellville.

Forget said over the years, he's seen "more offenders and less staff and it’s at a point now where it’s dangerous to the offenders as well as the staff and the public."

Branstad said in an interview that he embraces his legacy of cutting the size of the state government roster.

As he prepares to depart Iowa to become the next U.S. ambassador to China, Branstad downplayed critics such as Forget who contend the cuts have hurt public safety, rural areas and Iowa's poorest families.

"We look at this as part of our effort to make government smaller and smarter," Branstad said. "We're not only reducing the size of government, we're making it more efficient and more responsive."

Branstad served 16 years as governor in the 1980s and '90s and resumed office in January 2011 following a contentious election in which he accused former Gov. Chet Culver of mismanagement.

At that time Iowa had a projected $920 million in "rainy day" funds, a figure that included a $483 million ending balance in the 2011 fiscal year, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. Today that fund amount is projected to be about $739 million, a nearly 20 percent decrease.

The erosion of bargaining rights

Branstad's campaign goal in 2010 was to reduce government costs 15 percent. But the current projected budget is around $8.39 billion, a nearly 19 percent increase over the budget he inherited in 2011, review of total state appropriations by State Auditor Mary Mosiman.

Much of that growth is due to the cost of delivering services in education and human services areas, information from the LSA shows.

He leaves after the state has cut more than $100 million from the current fiscal year's budget and as his party has passed a bill that would greatly reduce collective bargaining rights for state employees.

Union representatives say those actions not only could further erode public services and state worker numbers but also cut into crucial benefits such as health insurance that are necessary to retain a skilled government workforce.

To union leaders, it's a continuation of poor policy decisions they say have prompted budget cuts at the expense of state employees.

They point to a law Branstad signed in 2013 that included a 10 percent rollback on commercial property tax rates and a tax credit for commercial property owners. That chipped away at local and state government revenue, union leaders contend.

"Let's get real about this," said Danny Homan, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Iowa Council 61, the state's largest public employee union. "It's not the employees that are causing this problem, and it's just too bad that's the ones we're blaming."

Departments: We're more efficient

Iowa departments who have lost the most employees since 2011 say they're generally more efficient.

All disputed allegations that safety has been compromised or that public services have been cut as a result of fewer employees.

"Through new technologies, contract arrangements, lean processes and modification of some programs and operations, the department has absorbed changes in staffing, while maintaining benefits and service delivery to beneficiaries," said Amy McCoy, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Courtney Greene of Iowa Workforce Development echoed that contention. Her department has lost about $63 million — $58.2 million in federal cuts and $4.8 million in state cuts — since 2011.

Much of that has been made up with efficiencies in technology and strategies such as online services that require fewer employees, she said.

"We have really worked hard to make sure we're providing excellent customer service," Greene said.

Iowa's total prison population has fallen to around 8,300, about 1,000 fewer than in 2011, spokesman Fred Scaletta said last month. That has helped the department absorb a reduction in employees, said Scaletta, who has since retired.

"It's like pushing on a beanbag," Mark Lowe, the transportation division director of the Iowa Department of Transportation said in describing areas of efficiency versus areas such as road maintenance that require a high number of employees. "There will be areas where we can still gain" through fewer employees, "but it needs to be much more incremental at this point."

The Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, in Mitchellville.

Popular with voters

Branstad's actions to trim the state's payroll haven't appeared to hurt him politically.

He has been re-elected five times as governor, including in 2014, when he carried places such as Fremont and Page counties in the state's southwest despite closing an unemployment office in Shenandoah in 2011.

Gregg Connell, Shenandoah's chamber of commerce director, said Iowa Workforce Development opened a temporary site that is open twice a week following 250 layoffs last year of the Eaton Corp.

"I was very disappointed they left Shenandoah, but Iowa Workforce Development has done a good job here" after the Eaton layoffs, Connell said. "…  You can be unhappy but that doesn't solve anything. We've just done the best we can."

A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll taken Feb. 6-9 found a plurality of Iowans, 47 percent, approve of the way Branstad is doing his job, compared with 44 percent who disapprove and 9 percent who aren't sure.

However, that approval rating is tied for second-lowest — with February 2016 — in the 13 times the Iowa Poll has asked about his job performance since he won re-election in 2010.

His low-water mark of 45 percent came in February 2011, just after he returned to office. His high-water mark of 63 percent came in February 2014, soon after he announced he would run for an unprecedented sixth term.

Christian Fong, a 2010 Republican candidate for governor, said he believes measuring government by its number of employees is antiquated. The best measure is whether government is responsive to its constituents, Fong said.

"The governor's legacy is not going to be impacted by closing offices here and there," Fong said. "I think his legacy will be having never lost an election and always being in touch with Iowans."

An area of government job growth: universities

Two of Iowa's three state universities saw an increase in their number of employees since Gov. Terry Branstad took office, a reflection of enrollment growth and increasing demand for medical services.

The University of Iowa's staff grew 13 percent — adding 2,714 positions — between the fiscal years that began July 1, 2009, and ended June 30, 2016, the data show.

Iowa State University added 252 positions, a 3 percent increase, the data show. The University of Northern Iowa, by contrast, lost 168 jobs, a 7 percent decrease during the same time.

Multiple officials said the number of jobs correlates with the size of student enrollment.

UI's total enrollment during that time increased 10 percent from 30,328 to 33,334 students. ISU's enrollment is up 31 percent, from 27,945 to 36,660. UNI's is down almost 9 percent from 13,080 to 11,905.

The majority of the jobs added at UI — 1,903 — were at the school's hospitals and clinics. That's largely because of a new children's hospital and a growth in patient care, noted Jeneane Beck, UI's assistant vice president for external affairs.

UI Health Care hired a record 1,480 new employees in the calendar year 2016, information provided by Beck shows.

"We're growing predominantly because of patient care," Beck said.