Six laid off in state Attorney General's Office #Minnesota

Six laid off in state Attorney General's Office

By Joe Kimball | Published Fri, Aug 26 2011 2:44 pm 

Five attorneys and a legal assistant have been laid off in the Minnesota Attorney General's office, after the Legislature cut $2.35 million from the agency's two-year budget.

The staff is being reorganized, and more savings will come from attrition through retirement, the office said in a statement.

And:

The general fund of the Attorney General’s Office (“AGO”) has been substantially reduced over the past ten years, from $28,852,000 in 2001 to $21,029,000 in 2011. In adjusted dollars, this represents a budget cut of over 40 percent.

Because 80 percent of the budget is personnel, staff cuts were needed to meet the lower budget numbers.

Ten years ago the office had 525 personnel, and was the largest public law office in the state. Today, the office, with about 300 employees, is substantially smaller in size than several metropolitan county attorney offices, the statement said.