In an effort to make state government more efficient, Delaware will have at least 1,000 fewer positions than it did in the beginning of his term this January, Governor Jack Markell said Monday, Nov. 2.

As the state Office of Management and Budget begins a month of budget hearings, Markell laid out his administration's plans to reduce the size and cost of state government.

“The single greatest cost in the state budget is personnel," he said in a press release. "The state needs to be serious in how it manages attrition from employees who retire and cautious when it fills any positions that open up in other ways."

Earlier this year, the administration worked with state legislators to eliminate 485 open positions across state government. Agencies have now identified an additional 525 positions to be eliminated from the 2010 fiscal year budget and will continue to look for ways to reduce the number of state positions.

“There are some real bright spots in Delaware’s economy and a tremendous amount of potential for future growth,” Markell said. “We wake up each day committed to doing everything we can to get more Delawareans back to work and to strengthen economic opportunity for those already working.

"But unemployment has no quick or easy solutions. We continue to face shrinking state revenue and need to respond by reducing state spending.”

In addition to rebuilding the state’s economy, the administration remains focused on finding ways to cut the cost of state government. As the state starts hearings on next year’s budget, the administration is using five foundations to guide its efforts to help government meet its responsibilities while delivering the best return for taxpayer dollars:

• Consolidate programs and units if savings or efficiencies can be achieved
•  Leverage new technology and management practices to deliver better results at lower cost
• Seek to eliminate or reduce state activities if the work done by the government simply duplicates efforts that are already completed by existing non-profits if savings or efficiencies can be achieved
• Budget for core priorities first and ask of each program and each process – “Does this meet or further our core missions as an agency or department?"
• Identify services that state government provides that may be done as well or better by private business at a lower cost

These guidelienes will be an important part of the balanced budget that Markell presents to the General Assembly. There will be many hard decisions that have to be made in order to allow the state to meet its core commitments, such as public safety, he said.

“In the meantime, we continue to improve our management practices to save taxpayer dollars and eliminate duplication of services," he said. "We’re streamlining units and programs for efficiency and by eliminating these 1,000 positions, working to reduce the single largest cost of state government.”