Cutting computer system will save state $18 million

HELENA – Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Thursday that he is canceling a new Labor Department computer system in order to save $18 million, the latest budget-cutting announcement amid new forecasts that a projected surplus is just about gone.

Schweitzer said the Labor Department came up with the idea to ditch a new unemployment insurance system, originally planned as a way to modernize the way businesses file reports. The agency said the old system will work fine for a while longer.

“That’s a tractor we can just keep farming,” Schweitzer said. “There are still enough spare parts in the shed.

“There will be a time in the future, I suppose, when we make that investment. But that time is not today.”

Money for the project would have come from special unemployment insurance revenue.

Schweitzer said the move is worthwhile, even though it won’t buoy the state “general fund” that is the bellwether for determining if the state is running into a spending deficit.

The Labor Department said workers are very busy dealing with an influx of unemployment claims due to the recession. Trying to install a new computer system right now would also delay their regular work.