War vets home jobs cut
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A dozen jobs at the state’s war veterans homes will be eliminated to reduce costs, Veterans Affairs Secretary Lane Carson said.
“The only thing we could cut was those positions,” Carson said.
Gov. Bobby Jindal described the eliminations last week as layoffs, but Carson said he hopes to avoid putting anyone in the unemployment line.
A few of the affected employees are eligible for retirement. Others could be shuffled to different jobs.
“We’re trying our best to keep any of them from actually having to lose their jobs,” Carson said.
The state Department of Veterans Affairs employs 827 people. The agency’s responsibilities include operating war veterans homes in Bossier City, Jackson, Jennings, Monroe and Reserve.
The homes provide nursing care to veterans.
The department’s overall budget, including federal funding, is roughly $47 million.
The combination of a drop in oil prices and the national recession is creating fiscal problems in the state spending year that ends June 30.
To eliminate a $341 million shortfall in the $30 billion state operating budget, the governor proposed $1.5 million in “savings” within the veterans affairs agency.
Carson said he will eliminate 12 administrative positions at three of the war veterans homes. The positions include social service counselors and administrative managers. The affected employees make an average of $35,000 a year.
The state Department of Public Safety and Corrections also is cutting jobs.
Seventy workers at a nursing unit at Elayn Hunt Correction Center in St. Gabriel are being let go.
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