Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Democratic gubernatorial candidate says she’s going to shrink state government and save taxpayers up to $10 million a year by trimming middle management in her agency.

State workers don’t have to worry about layoffs, though – the former banker she’s going to leave middle management positions empty when current employees retire or resign. It will take up to 18 months to achieve the savings, long after Sink’s time as CFO has ended.

Sink’s announcement today is a continuation of her emphasis on bringing a business-like approach to government.

She recently caught fire from her GOP Cabinet colleague Attorney General Bill McCollum’s campaign for governor for promoting cost savings by cutting back on office supplies, including paper clips.

But McCollum’s own director of administration last week testified before a Senate committee that his office could save $238,000 a year by skimping on office supplies and reusing paper clips.

Sink set a goal of one supervisor for every seven workers, cutting back from a current ratio of one to five in her agency. She says taxpayers could save about $300 million a year if all state agencies did the same.

Many state agencies are already doing what Sink proposes – leaving vacant positions empty – for the past several years because of budget cuts.

Stay tuned to find out what the ratio of middle managers to workers is in McCollum’s office.

Tags: 2010 campaigns, Alex Sink, Bill McCollum, state budget

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