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State workers fear layoffs as Gregoire looks at trims

Government programs likely to be forced to make cuts, too

By Adam Wilson | The Olympian • Published November 10, 2008

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"It's not a time to tax people, and it's not a time to lay people off," he said. "We have to get to the March revenue forecast. We have to know the depth of the problem."

By many accounts, however, the problem is deep enough to demand reductions in government programs — and the workers who run them.

"Cuts are definitely going to be part of the package," said Remy Trupin, executive director of the Washington Budget and Policy Center.

"The governor is going to come out with a proposal that is pretty scary, and it's going to focus people on the size of the problem," he said. "I hope it will push things toward a more systemic mode of thinking. From our perspective, that means looking at revenue."

The think tank supports programs for low- and moderate-income citizens, and those are the services that people need in a recession, Trupin said.

"It's the services to people who don't have a strong voice that are on the table," he said. "It's the feeling that K-12 (schools) should be protected, which is understandable, but when you start cutting services, it's the health and human services."

No-more-taxes pledge

Although Gregoire restated her no-more-taxes pledge after her victory, her fellow Democrats control the state House and Senate. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown has notably said ending tax breaks for specific groups or industries is an option.

But the conservative Washington Policy Center says the budget gap is too big to fill by closing a few tax exemptions. Since Gregoire took office, the state budget has increased by one-third, noted Jason Mercier, an analyst with the center.

"We need to go back to where we would have been in 2005 if we hadn't expanded the budget at that rate," he said.

Mercier said even the changes Gregoire has made so far — which included many one-time savings like spending down federal funds — might not stave off more cuts before July, when the next budget starts.

"All indications are that the projection coming out in a couple weeks is going to be even down further. We're going to have really change the direction we were heading in the last budget," he said.