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Originally published in the Frederick News-Post

Economic & Fiscal Policy, Government Transparency

by Marta Hummel Mossburg

OP-EDS

Gov. Martin O'Malley repeatedly talks about the need for every resident to sacrifice to create "one" Maryland -- everyone, that is, but state government employees.

As thousands of Marylanders in the private sector lose their jobs each month, tax revenue falls and legislators wrangle over how to cut $500 million from the budget, state employees continue to enjoy months of paid time off at the cost of millions to taxpayers. According to the state Department of Budget and Management (DBM), state employees are out of the office an average 37 days per year, not counting holidays.

Particularly egregious are employees of the Department of Natural Resources, who are out an average of 45 days a year, not counting holidays, or almost one day a week each week. They average 15 sick days alone. Who knew caring for the environment was so unhealthy?

Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene employees also exceeded the average. They are absent an average 39 days a year, 20 days from personal and sick time. Those figures suggest every employee had major surgery or contracted swine flu.

The state estimates sick leave costs $986 per employee, but the price is almost triple because it estimates employees are out sick five days -- the average amount of time private-sector workers are absent from illness each year. The real bill should be $2,564 per employee or $115.5 million for full-time employees each year. Thousands of employees are excluded in DBM's personnel report, so the figure should be higher.

But that is only part of the story. Maryland policy allows state employees to accumulate 15 sick days per year and roll them over in perpetuity, with unused days counted toward pension payments for those smart enough to save their days, inflating retirement costs. Only union members, whose benefits helped to bankrupt General Motors and Chrysler on the taxpayer dime, enjoyed such benefits. And the vast majority of private-sector workers receive no pension and pay for their own retirement through 401(k) plans.

Private-sector workers take fewer days because they lose wages. Congress' Joint Economic Committee released a report earlier this month showing that 40 percent of private-sector employees do not receive paid sick leave. Their benefits are tied to the financial performance of their companies.

State workers do not suffer the burden of reality. They retained their benefits in the heart of the recession as private-sector companies cut matching contributions to 401(k)s and trimmed other benefits. Because of financial mismanagement, state taxpayers are on the hook for $11 billion in unfunded mandates for state employee pensions and about $15 billion for retiree health care and other benefits, according to the recent Pew Center on the States study, "The Trillion Dollar Gap: Underfunded State Retirement Systems and the Roads to Reform."

State taxpayers should not be asked to fund benefits that they will never receive and that they could not afford to pay even during times of full employment. Cutting the number of state employee sick days to five per year and prohibiting them from being rolled over would save taxpayers hundreds of millions in retirement costs, trim the yearly budget without trimming services, and lighten the unfair load on those who pay the state's bills.

Marta Mossburg is a senior fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute. mmossburg@mdpolicy.org