©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Rutherford Nixes Satellite Treasurer's Offices |
(IRN) -- State Treasurer Dan Rutherford is fulfilling a campaign promise. He's closing six satellite offices in Illinois in an effort to use state resources more efficiently.
"I see them as a total inefficient use of state assets," Rutherford said. "And I have visited these offices, at least a few of them before. Some of them are in state office buildings -- the ones that are in I think Effingham and Rock Island and Rockford. So it’s not like you’re paying rent, but you are using office space and state buildings."
The other offices are in Mount Vernon, Riverdale, and Collinsville. Six full time positions will be affected by the move. One has been eliminated, and Rutherford says the other five will be reviewed as the offices are shut down in the next month.
"Very candidly, the costs are going to be negligible, absolutely, and I've said that the entire time," Rutherford said. "The cost savings are going to be negligible. But I think what it is, is exactly what the public of Illinois is looking for. If you don't have to have six satellite offices that are taking up space in a state office building that have state assets sitting there, then why are we doing that?"
Rutherford said he isn't necessarily eliminating the other five jobs, though as he calculated estimated cost savings, he used an average $40,000 salary and multiplied it by five to claim the "negligible" $200,000 in savings.
Rutherford said residents will not miss out on services of the Treasurer's office.
"In today's world, we are looking to highlight more so what I would call the virtual office," Rutherford said. "The access through the Internet and, of course, the telephone lines. Because all of the services that the state Treasurer provides through those satellite offices absolutely can be done in another way."
Rutherford said the newly-available office space in state government buildings could be offered to vital state agencies, including the Department of Children and Family Services.
(Illinois Radio Network) |
|
| 01 15 11 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
