by
Brian Mann on October 19th, 2010
The Albany Times-Union is reporting on an internal memo it acquired that describes the state’s environmental agency as very nearly dysfunctional because of staff and budget cuts.
“Many of our programs are hanging by a thread. The public would be shocked to learn how thin we are in many areas,” it states. “DEC is in the weakest position that it has been since it was created 40 years ago.”
Over the last two years, the Environmental Conservation has been targeted for massive lay-offs, hitting more than 1-in-5 employees.
The cuts have called into question the DEC’s ability to manage millions of acres of state land in the Adirondacks, as well as other crucial environmental projects statewide.
Read more here.
Tags: environment, politics
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It is really sad. It sounds like it may be time to start decreasing the size of the Forest Preserve for a change. It was very poor planning. Even when the state was adding land to the FP through purchases and easements they were not planning on how they would pay for the management of that land, and that was back when they had some money. It was the height of fiscal irresponsibility and most environmental groups cheered them on. Here we are. The state was still looking to spend more money on state land earlier this year (see below), they have no fiscal restraint. They should not be surprised that they are in this sinking boat:
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/512437.html?startIndex=26
Perhaps DEC could save money by outsourcing some positions to a independent contractors or a private company? Outsourcing often saves money as private companies dont have the huge pensions costs the state does and have the flexibility to terminate non-performing staff. Though regulatory positions and top administration should not be outsourced.
All in all, it seems like an agency in dire straits. 2,926 employees doesnt seem like much for a state of 19 million. The public will certainly notice the impact of further cuts.
Scratchy, I don’t know. One employee for every 6300 people in the state when you have the EPA and other environmental agencies seems like a bunch to me. Either way we can’t afford it anymore so something has got to change. The EPA manages the entire country with 18,000 employees why does NYS need 3000?
While I’m sure this won’t be popular, I say we transfer some of the NYS Trooper personnel over to the DEC. That’s not a permanent solution by any means, but could be helpful nonetheless.
We can rearrange the deck chairs, but it won’t change the fact that the boat is sinking. We have too much land to mange and not enough people or money to get the job done. There are only 2 choices. One is raise taxes, a tough sell in a state with the highest taxes in the country. Or we need to cut back, that means get rid of some of the land we need to manage and pay taxes on. It is a win-win.
The DEC is responsible for a lot more than just public land management. It’s the parks, it’s environmental permitting, it’s managing hunting and fishing licenses.
The EPA does nothing of the above save environmental enforcement, and delegates a lot of its authority to the states. That’s why it can get away with 18,000 employees.
Clapton, I’m not sure a lot of the DEC positions are in enforcement. There ahs been talk for decades about moving the EnCon Police and maybe Forest Rangers over under NYSP. At one time a few years back a State Police Captain was running the EnCon Police IIRC. It would certainly work and make things more efficient after a time of adjustment.
But, it’ll never happen.
Sell off a bunch of State Land. That’ll raise revenue and put the land back on the true tax rolls rather than taxing the people to pay taxes on land the can’t use.
Well, they could start by selling state prisons…oh wait, already happening. How about selling the state ski areas? Those money sink-holes would fund DEC for a while.
I don’t think we have to much land for the number of people.
Consider the western states huge huge tracts of land to manage and far fewer people working for their state agencies.
The issue I think may be getting back to core services and mission of the DEC and less on things like “programs” education etc.
The operative statistic in my mind is not the number of employees per person in the state, but the number of employees per acre of management. Compare that metric to Wyoming or South Dakota and see how we stack up?
Knuck, On selling ski areas. Seems like a good idea but we have good old article 14. Can’t sell the land that Whiteface is sitting on. Can’t build any real accommodations there either. It will always be good skiing with out much else to offer. We can thank our friends in the legislature for tying our hands on that one.
Mervel, how about North Dakota? I went to one of their state parks once, a coal seam that caught fire from a lightning strike and then it burned out decades later. Seriously, that qualifies for a park in North Dakota. They were sure saving some money on that park. They probably sent someone around once a year to make sure the fire was still out.
Oh, I forgot the Lawrence Welk homestead!