Gov. Rick Scott cuts more state jobs than any governor in recent history

A state report issued this week indicates that positions in Florida's main personnel systems fell by nearly 11,000 jobs during Gov. Rick Scott's first term – a faster rate of reduction than any governor has recorded.And Florida remains dead last in both its per-capita size and cost of state personnel.

"Gov. Scott knows that government doesn't drive our economy forward – businesses who create jobs for hard-working Florida families do," Jackie Schutz, the governor's communications director, said Friday. "Florida must stay committed to smaller government and lowering taxes, to become the top destination in the world for jobs."

Numbers in the Annual Workforce Report are troubling to local legislators."We know Gov. Scott is a CEO that looks to run government like a business," said Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee.

"But in business, when you have record profits – in our case, surpluses – the workers are the ones who should benefit from those gains. That hasn't happened."

Measuring monthly employment figures, Scott has kept a large graph on an easel next to his desk in the Capitol, with diverging lines showing jobs in the private sector going up and government employment literally falling off the chart.

He cut state regulations and reorganized some offices to the point that Tallahasseeans joyously booed Scott when he was grand marshal of the Springtime Tallahassee parade.

But Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, said there is more to government efficiency than simply reducing the job rolls. "'Big government' is how much control government has over our private lives, our businesses and our pocket books," she said. "It's not the good, hard-working and dedicated public servant that should take the brunt of our suspicion about 'big government.'"

The annual report, compiled by the Department of Management Services under a legislative mandate, does not guage the transferred costs of jobs privatized with contractors, such as thousands of state prison positions.Automating, consolidating and privatizing government services began in a big way under Gov. Jeb Bush, between 1998 and 2006.

General workforce numbers leveled off under Gov. Charlie Crist, but the downward trend resumed – and accelerated – with Scott's arrival in 2011.The State Personnel System -- the Career Service, Selected Exempt and Senior Management jobs – accounts for 61.6 percent of state employment, spread among 36 agencies under Scott, or under him and the Cabinet.

The number of established positions in the personnel system fell by 10,867 in the past five years, which includes the last six months of Crist's term. The number of employees in those positions fell even more, from 105,031 in mid-2010 to 89,686 as of last June 30.

Average salaries at that point were $35,546 in Career Service, $55,098 in Selected Exempt and $110,853 in Senior Management.

The overall reductions under Scott far outpaced Bush's first term figures. Between 1998, when Bush was elected, and 2002, when he was re-elected, positions in the State Personnel System fell from 124,838 to 117,561, according to annual DMS reports for those years. State employment had edged upward most years, in most agencies, under Democrats and Republicans alike, prior to Bush.

One thing that has not changed under Democrats or Republicans has been Florida's very low statistical standing in its comparative size and cost of government. The DMS report said Florida had the nation's lowest ratio of state employees to population – 108 per 10,000 residents – counting both full-time and part-time workers.Counting only full-time employees, the ratio was even smaller, 93 per 10,000 population.

The national average is 170 employees per 10,000 residents.The report also ranked Florida lowest in state government payroll costs. Using March as a yardstick, DMS calculated that state personnel costs the average Floridian $37 a month – less than half the national average of $76 per taxpayer.

As the economy improved over the past five years, state employees have been more willing to leave their jobs. The DMS report said the turnover rate in state personnel ranks rose from 6.8 percent to 8.1 percent under Scott — and has been highest in Career Service, going from 7.2 percent in Crist's last six months to 8.8 percent last summer.While overall employment in the big three payroll plans went down, jobs increased in the State University System.

General faculty and other campus jobs rose from 42,310 when Scott came in, to 44,126 last June 30 in the SUS, which accounts for 27.1 percent of state employment.The state courts had a relatively small rise, from 3,141 positions in mid-2011 to 3,209 at the same point of last year. The Justice Administration System, which includes state attorneys and public defenders across Florida, went from 9,968 to 10,245 jobs under Scott.

The Legislature shaved 55 positions among House and Senate aides, dropping from 1,598 employees to 1,543 and the Lottery Department went from 436 to 421. Scott's office staff rose from 187 to 286, but that was mostly due to absorbing the Division of Emergency Management from the Department of Community Affairs in 2012.The number of Other Personnel Service workers – temporary employees who don't get vacations, holiday pay or most other employee benefits – dipped by almost 11 percent under Scott.

The DMS report said the average monthly OPS employment went from 10,053 in June of 2011, six months after Scott took office, to 8,889 last June 30.

Correspondent Bill Cotterell can be reached at bcotterell@tallahassee.com or 599-2283