That'll teach you
In a representative form of government, in which the people elect people to speak for them and look out for their interests, government is supposed to serve the people. President Abraham Lincoln summed it up pretty well when he coined the phrase “government of the people, by the people and for the people,” in the Gettysburg Address. Folks expect government to serve them, to operate for their convenience, no the other way around. And that’s usually the way things work out. But when government requires people to get building permits, automobile registrations, drivers licenses and any number of other things, and we can get those things only from government, things can get ugly when governments close offices to save money.
Sometimes closing offices makes sense. If a particular drivers license or auto registration office serves few people, it’s good stewardship to consolidate locations. Other times, it seems government uses the cover of saving money to punish voters. Judging from online comments and letters received at The Gazette, a lot of people in El Paso County believe that’s what’s going on with shuttered county offices and locked park restrooms. Now, it looks as though the same thing is happening at the state level.
An Associated Press story last week reported that Colorado state employees will have to take at least four furlough days this year, and that they’ll all be off the same days. Some employees in critical jobs such as state troopers will stagger their days off to ensure coverages, but most others will take the same days off. Their offices will be closed, and anyone needing access to them will simply have to wait. So anyone needing to contact the Department of Regulatory Agencies, for example, to find out about a professional license will have to either plan ahead or wait until they come back to work.
Only government would think this is a good way to provide services people want or need. Most private businesses looking at furloughing employees allow, and in some cases require, workers to decide which days they’ll take off. Supervisors are tasked with ensuring staffing levels are high enough to continue to provide the products or service the customers expect. Doing otherwise, in most cases, would cost the company money and customer loyalty. Government, with rules and regulations everyone must follow, doesn’t have that worry. If you need to renew your drivers license, there’s only one provider — government.
Gov. Bill Ritter’s spokesman Evan Dreyer told The Gazette in a telephone interview that with the budget cuts, including furloughs, the state atttempts to “minimize impact to the public.” Dreyer says the state faces different challenges than private companies when furloughing employees, and that payroll reporting to the federal government is different also. Mass furloughs on the same days provides savings to the state.
We’re not sure we buy Dreyer’s explanations, and it’s likely the public won’t either. They’ll see that the government that’s supposed to serve them has a “closed” sign on the door.
