Governor Kitzhaber’s Proposed Budget 2011

http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/docs/priorities/BUDGET_Full_Budget.pdf
Governor Kitzhaber’s budget is at the link shown above. This is a big picture look at Oregon’s state budget. You won’t find your crew budget for 2011 – 2013 in here.
It is a proposed budget. That is important. Our governor and his staff have done their homework and studies and house calls and conferences – etc. This is their proposal to do a number of things. It is a proposal to have a balanced budget. It is a proposal to have smaller more effective state government. It is a proposal to start to look at education from cradle to elderhood. It is a proposal to use government to encourage others to create jobs for Oregonians.
Those of us who remember John Kitzhaber’s first go round remember his ground breaking changes with healthcare and medicine. The introduction to this first budget of his new administration talks about education, jobs and education. He does talk about healthcare and public safety, but it doesn’t take long to see where his emphasis is.

The budget document is 395 pages long. Not very many of us are going to read it cover to cover. I do encourage you to open the link and look around. You can learn things about your state and your agency. You can learn that Transportation Expenditures are 7% of the total proposed budget (page A-13). You can learn that the Department of Aviation, founded in 1921, was the first government aviation agency in the United States. It is also to be merged with ODOT (pg G-3). The Oregon State Police are to come back into the Highway Fund in January of 2012. If you are interested in our agency's radio network see page G-6.
I am interested on page M-6 to see that the Governor has plans to rebuild my shop (ODOT Meacham) in the 2013 – 2015 biennium. We’ll see. The Highway User Tax is explained on page M-17. All sorts of information.

Throughout the budget are all sorts of tables and graphs. You can see that our proposed budget is to be reduced by $295 million (pg O-73). We are to gain 6 full time equivalent employees (could be more than 6 actual persons working less than full time) (pg G-5).


There is a lot to see in the Governor’s proposal. All of this proposal must be passed by the state legislature. I think most of us know that change is coming. As individuals we can worry about it, fight it – and get swept away with the tide. My hope is that members of ODOT Local 730 will look for change; will help shape the change as it comes. ODOT is a vastly different agency than when it started in 1929. Our mission statement has changed many times, but not our core mission: To make Oregon a better place.

I am sure we are up to it. mac