In response to Wyoming’s significant revenue shortfalls, Governor Mark Gordon has instructed state agencies to immediately take action to further reduce spending and prepare for deeper cuts in the coming months. The reduction plan requires agencies to prepare for more drastic scenarios and be proactive, since the revenue situation could further worsen. Already the state has taken the first step by imposing a hiring freeze and limiting large contracts. Gordon says fewer state positions may be necessary and those cuts will likely lead to some employees losing their jobs. He also asked agencies to consider salary reductions, furloughs, reductions in benefits, and other options. He told reporters Thursday that he finds that a bitter pill to swallow.
Gordon said, “These are your neighbors. These are those people whose kids go to school with yours. These are not just (you know) faces – they are people! And it is absolutely critical that we approach this crisis with compassion, and with forethought, and with a view of where we’re going to go. That’s the whole point of what we’re trying to do.”
Gordon adds that other cuts may become necessary, like having the state’s municipalities become more responsible for highway maintenance where they run through town or to cut back on hours that the state’s highways will be cleared of snow. He says even if the state fell back onto its “rainy day fund” to maintain services, that fund would run out by the end of the year.
