October 13, 2003 --
Abstract published from The Anniston Star with permission. To read the article in its entirety, please go to www.annistonstar.com.
----Gov. Bob Riley said one of the cost-saving recommendations he will make to the Legislature is ending the Deferred Retirement Option Program, which allows teachers and state employees to stockpile retirement checks while continuing to work. Riley said ending the program should save the state $25 million to $26 million at a time when the state is facing big shortfalls in both state budgets for the next fiscal year. Ending DROP was one of the recommendations that Riley’s Commission on Education Spending made in July. Riley announced Thursday that he is reactivating the commission, and that when the Legislature meets in February, he will propose some of the commission’s original ideas as well as some of its new recommendations. The governor said he is undecided about how to handle those already signed up for DROP.
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