Though Gov. Brown has pitched his reduced workweek as a means to save around $830 million, it is now clear that those savings will not be as great as expected.
If the state implements Brown's plan, which the Legislative Analyst's Office has called "problematic", not only will public services suffer a drop in quality and excluded employees face greater workload issues, but hidden costs will in fact reduce the savings Brown hopes to achieve.
Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer confirmed in an interview with the Sacramento Bee that taxpayers will have to foot the bill for Gov. Brown’s cuts in the near future.
The Bee's Jon Ortiz breaks down the savings drain:
"Let's say for the sake of easy math that state worker Hy Pothetical earns $1,000 per month in pensionable income. Like most employees, Hy contributes 8 percent to his pension, or $80 per month.
Then Brown's four-day, 9.5-hour workweek kicks in. Now Hy earns $950 per month and pays $76 in pension contributions, 8 percent of his new lower wage.
Since the retirement benefit will be calculated as though Hy still earned $1,000, the state - i.e., taxpayers - picks up the $4 difference."