Tuesday March 3, 2009
So Gov. Jodi Rell just announced a freeze on the purchasing of “goods and items” for the rest of the fiscal year which ends June 30. “The State continues to face a mounting budget deficit in the current fiscal year and we must achieve cost savings wherever and whenever possible during the remaining months of fiscal year 2009,” she said in a release from her Capitol office,
That may be fine and dandy, but Rell’s proposed two-year budget includes the formation of a new Department on Aging. Doesn’t that seem a little counter-intuitive? An agency without office equipment. I know, that’s then and this is now, but it still seems weird.
Rell wants to save $3.23 million in office supplies including paper, toner cartridges, folders and pens; $1.1 million in industrial supplies including cleaning products, hand tools, hardware and vacuuming equipment; and $362,000 in office equipment including fax machines and small printers.
Down in the underground walkway between the Capitol and the Legislative Office Building, there’s a concourse along which many non-profits and state agencies set up information tables. A couple times a week, there’s one group or another offering buttons, literature, candy, even free pencils. Maybe the governor can order state offices to get their office equipment there.
