Burger King Breakfast, You Will Be Missed
That's right, starting October 7th, no more Burger King breakfast for the residents of Kwajalein. It's just another victim of the budget axe. In a wrap up to this post: Budget Cuts here's how this year's budget cuts have affected Kwajalein and Roi:
-274 positions cut, most of them through removing open positions and reducing hours. I understand there were about 10 contractor layoffs and about 20 island-hire layoffs
-Reduced hours at the stores, the rec center, small boat marina and the hobby shop
-No more PE, Spanish or music classes at the schools
-No more bus service on Kwajalein
-The physician's assistant is being cut on Roi (meaning only a nurse and EMT are available for medical treatment)
D and I both still have our jobs and these cuts won't affect us too much, although we will miss that Monday morning Burger King breakfast splurge. We've been told that KRS has to make these cuts over a three-year period, so we have one more year of these kinds of tough cuts. Well, there could always be more cuts after that, of course, but we're keeping our fingers crossed. The biggest thing that keeps coming up is whether or not to cut the schools or families here. I've been told that it's been brought up every time there are budget cuts but so far, no one has really taken it seriously, until now. There's nothing final but I've heard through the coconut wire that the suggestion to make either of those cuts went higher up the decision chain than it usually does. We've heard that any major changes like that won't be implemented until closer to 2014, so we've got a little time. We're pretty good at rolling with the punches and we have some back-up plans so don't worry too much about us. I'll let you know when we know!
-274 positions cut, most of them through removing open positions and reducing hours. I understand there were about 10 contractor layoffs and about 20 island-hire layoffs
-Reduced hours at the stores, the rec center, small boat marina and the hobby shop
-No more PE, Spanish or music classes at the schools
-No more bus service on Kwajalein
-The physician's assistant is being cut on Roi (meaning only a nurse and EMT are available for medical treatment)
D and I both still have our jobs and these cuts won't affect us too much, although we will miss that Monday morning Burger King breakfast splurge. We've been told that KRS has to make these cuts over a three-year period, so we have one more year of these kinds of tough cuts. Well, there could always be more cuts after that, of course, but we're keeping our fingers crossed. The biggest thing that keeps coming up is whether or not to cut the schools or families here. I've been told that it's been brought up every time there are budget cuts but so far, no one has really taken it seriously, until now. There's nothing final but I've heard through the coconut wire that the suggestion to make either of those cuts went higher up the decision chain than it usually does. We've heard that any major changes like that won't be implemented until closer to 2014, so we've got a little time. We're pretty good at rolling with the punches and we have some back-up plans so don't worry too much about us. I'll let you know when we know!
It makes me very sad to hear about the budget cuts on Kwaj - both because of what it means to all of you living there, and because I can only imagine that less resources for Kwaj means less resources to help the native Marshallese on Ebeye, etc...
ReplyDeleteOf course, I also am very sad to think that we might never get the chance to live there. I must have discovered this island ten years too late!
Please keep up the posts - love to read about life on the other side of the date line. :)