Tshibaka says 50 percent budget cut vision not founded on cutting employees, privatizing services

Administration Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka, who claims the state can cut its budget in half, denies that she wants to reduce the number of state employees or to privatize state services.

I understand why she would say that to worried state employees, but the $50 million the Dunleavy administration is spending to reshape state government and get 6,000 employees working remotely for the long term clearly appears aimed at a future in which many state functions are privatized.

“It wasn’t that long ago that our state operated on about half the budget it has now, for the same amount of population we have today. I think we can do that again,” Tshibaka said before the election.

Tshibaka, who is behaving exactly like a candidate preparing to run for office in 2022, has not explained her vision of a 50 percent budget cut. A budget cut of that magnitude is impossible without the elimination of many state jobs, services and programs.

The so-called six-phase “pandemic preparedness plan would permanently reshape state government under the guise of the pandemic, digitizing “128 tasks and services in departments for full remote work enablement.”

After I wrote about this Nov. 12, I said that once Tshibaka and Gov. Mike Dunleavy came forward with their blanket denials about privatization and layoffs, they should include details on how many state facilities are to be closed with 6,000 employees working remotely for the long term and exactly which half of the budget Tshibaka wants to cut.

Here is her blanket denial, which she posted on Instagram, lacking the specifics:

This week we had a Town Hall for the Dept of Admin. One question asked was regarding DOA's intent to outsource IT staff and cut the state budget 50%. Here was my response:

-- I released documents and a rebuttal of allegations reported in the media about DOA outsourcing work. http://doa.alaska.gov/ "What's New" Under AAPEX is a response to the House committee.

-- 15 years ago, the State had about half the operating budget it has today, but it had *more* employees. We need to ask what was different then?

-- Teleworking foreshadows flexible schedules, not outsourcing. It's more cost effective to do business with employees than with contractors.

--At DOA, we hope to move to staggered schedules, shared spaces, & flexible schedules where staff can work both in the office and at home, getting the benefits of both (when it's safe to do so). That would allow us to reduce some of our leases, but not most. We still need space for when our teams come in for collaborating, innovating, in-person processing activities, and networking.

--The AAPEX assessments determined the State cannot function its IT enterprise without the critical number of IT staff we have now. In fact, the assessment also determined the 20% vacancies in IT positions also need to be filled in order for the State to achieve an optimal IT enterprise.