Furloughs force DMV to close
By: Andrea Koskey
Examiner Staff Writer
February 6, 2009
 |
| Mandate: The DMV on Fell Street in The City will close every first and third Friday of each month, along with all DMV offices statewide, as part of cost-saving furloughs. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SACRAMENTO — Anyone visiting the DMV today will find the doors locked and workers picketing outside in response to state-mandated furloughs.
Employees at all California Department of Motor Vehicles offices are forced to take two unpaid days off each month as part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s efforts to cut costs and bridge the $42 billion budget deficit.
The days off mean all DMV offices will be closed the first and third Friday of each month, an action some employees are not happy with.
“It’s disappointing,” said Lorain Santisteban, an employee at the DMV in San Francisco. “Some people cannot afford to take a day off.”
Roughly 90 percent of the state’s 238,000 employees are being forced to take furloughs, or unpaid days off, through an executive order issued in December by Schwarzenegger. The furloughs are estimated to save the state $1.4 billion through June 2010. They equate to a 9.2 percent pay cut.
Public safety and some other employees, such as those who collect revenue, are exempt. Some workers will be on the job today, but must take unpaid days off in the future.
Santisteban said employees will hold a rally today outside the DMV to protest the decision.
Last August, following another executive order, the DMV discontinued all Saturday office hours.
Mike Marando, spokesman for the DMV, said the state agency is complying with the requirement.
“We look at it as following a state order,” he said. “We encourage customers to be patient, because we still have a number of online options.”
Marando said DMV officials have contacted customers to reschedule appointments made on designated furlough days. On Thursday afternoon, wait times for registration and license services were more than one hour. Signs were posted throughout the DMV announcing today’s closure, but some customers were still not aware of the plan.
“I think it’s unfair to employees,” said 24-year-old Meredith Kessler, who learned of the furlough while applying for a license Thursday.
“But [the economy] is affecting everyone,” she said.
Francisco Garcia, 41, also heard the news Thursday at the DMV. He will have to wait another three days to renew his expired license. The office closure will force him to take public transportation to run errands this weekend.
“I think it’s terrible,” Garcia said of the furloughs. “This is going to affect everyone.”
However, Ken Bomar, 45, said he was glad to see the government was doing something to help the state budget deficit.
“I’m happy to see someone’s trying to save a buck,” he said.
By the numbers
9,000 People the DMV employes statewide
173 Offices the DMV has across the state
90 Percentage of the state’s 238,000 employees being forced to take a furlough
$1.4 billion Estimated cost savings of the furloughs through June 2010
9.2 percent Pay cut that is for some state workers
