Budget Cuts
WGMD downstate is reporting that the Georgetown office of the Social Security Administration is cutting its public hours to 9 am to 3:30 p.m. I am sure some stupid teabagger will now start complaining about it.
We’ll start to see stuff like this all over. These cuts are as a result of the cuts to discretionary spending, and the easiest thing to cut in discretionary spending is overtime pay, which is what the SSA has done here. Since there can be no overtime, they are closing the office early so that they can make sure the work is finished before close of business.
Dover Social Security Office to Begin Closing at 3:30 pm Daily
Congressional Budget Cuts Force Reduced Public Hours
Effective August 15, 2011, the Dover Social Security office will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. – a reduction of 30 minutes each weekday.
While agency employees will continue to work their regular hours, this shorter public window will allow them to complete face-to-face service with the visiting public without incurring the cost of overtime. Congress provided Social Security with nearly $1 billion less than the President requested for the budget this fiscal year, which makes it impossible for the agency to provide the amount of overtime needed to handle service to the public as we have in the past.
Most Social Security services do not require a visit to an office. For example, anyone wishing to apply for benefits, sign up for direct deposit, replace a Medicare card, obtain a proof of income letter or inform us of a change of address or telephone number may do so at http://www.socialsecurity.gov or by dialing our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.
This was announced a few weeks ago. WGMD is slow on reporting this. As for overtime pay, agencies build in enough unspent end of year money to cover whatever needs to be covered before September 30.