Politics & Government

Shaking Up The House: MoDOT Job, Budget Cuts Approved

MoDOT's plan to save $512 million by making job, facility and budget cuts is approved. The necessary changes are already taking place.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission approved the  (MoDOT) plan to cut staff, facilities and equipment in an effort to save the department $512 million. MoDOT presented the plan to the commission on May 4 and it was approved Wednesday.

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For the most part, the approved version of the plan is what was presented in May: reduce the size of staff by 1,200, close 135 facilities and sell more than 740 pieces of equipment. MoDOT Director Kevin Keith said that by 2015, this plan will not only save the department $512 million, but it will save the department $117 million annually, which will be used for road and bridge projects.

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However, MoDOT's staffing reduction deadline was extended from the initial December 2012 to March 31, 2013.

"What that extension allows for is three more months of our numbers to reduce through attrition. And hopefully by then, we'll have fewer numbers that we have to lay off," said Linda Wilson, MoDOT's community relations manager.

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Wilson told Patch the job cuts will affect the St. Louis area, but MoDOT will not know by how much until March 2013.

"We typically lose about 450 employees each year just through general attrition. Folks retire, find a new job, get fired, so we're still going to have to do layoffs, but it won't be as many," Wilson said.

The current plan is simply not rehiring for positions as people leave and doing more with less.

"We already started this in March 2010, so we've already reduced employee numbers by 403. So we have just under 800 to go by 2013," Wilson told Patch. "We are making internal changes for internal efficiencies by moving people around to where they are most needed."

Although facilities across the state will close, MoDOT's St. Louis Metro Office will remain in Town and Country. Its jurisdiction will remain the same. The office will continue to cover the City of St. Louis and St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties.

However, MoDOT is reducing its 10 district offices to seven. It plans to close offices in Macon, Joplin and Willow Springs. Wilson said it will take a year and half to close those offices, and MoDOT is working with those cities to see how the buildings can be best used.

Wilson said that Joplin lost four schools in the , and MoDOT is talking with school officials about the the possibility of them using the current MoDOT facility for classes in the fall.  

"We have just started this conversation. This is not set," Wilson said.

Both Wilson and Keith said these cuts are a result of a transportation funding crisis and the money the department is saving will go to necessary road and bridge projects.

"Our federal and state funding for transportation has dramatically declined. In fact, we have half of the funding now that we've had for the last for five years, for a variety of reasons," Wilson said. "That's why we are implementing this new plan. We are not saving to save. It's so we can put the money toward roads and bridges."


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