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The Columbia, Mo., man, a 48-year-old paraplegic, relies on the state more than most.

Medicaid pays for his wheelchair, which includes a handy automated feature that allows him to control movement with his head. He often needs to call the state to work through health care issues.

Lately, though, he has found getting a live person on the phone is more difficult.

鈥淚t is really hard to reach the state for almost any reason,鈥� Pund says. 鈥淭here used to be social workers who were familiar with your case, but that鈥檚 often not the case anymore.鈥�

This is what happens when a state treats government workers like second-class citizens.

Over the past several years, as budgets in Missouri ran short, the state workforce has shrunk. That means fewer people to answer the phones. Fewer caseworkers to help poor people get their food stamps or navigate various aid programs. Fewer state offices, farther away from where people live and work.

Then there鈥檚 this: Just this summer, another in a series of studies confirmed that Missouri鈥檚 state workers remain the .

That leads to more bad consequences. Morale takes a dip. Turnover is high.

In 2015, for instance, the Department of Mental Health reported a 25 percent turnover. That means taxpayers pay even more for hiring and training new employees.

And people like Pund end up getting the short end of the stick.

鈥淣ot being able to get access to services simply makes living life more difficult,鈥� Pund said.

I first met Pund years ago when I lived in Columbia. He has spent much of his adult life advocating for people with disabilities, whether it was fighting service cuts to the disabled in his own community or advocating against state cuts to Medicaid.

When we first met, Pund was railing against made by then Gov. Matt Blunt and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature. It was an issue that dogged the former governor until the end of his term. Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, ran for office on a campaign of reinstating what was cut.

Nixon made some progress in that regard, but not much.

Combined with various cuts to state services and employees made in the governor鈥檚 two terms, Pund says that plainly, life is more difficult today than it was when we met.

Growing up in Pacific, he didn鈥檛 have to worry about such issues. But then a car accident changed his life forever. Now, paralyzed from the shoulders down, Pund knows what it is like to need daily help from others, and he speaks up when the government isn鈥檛 keeping up its end of the bargain.

When you depend on your wheelchair for mobility, delays in service can be life-changing.

Not long ago, Pund told me, his high-tech chair stopped working. He called and called until he got a live person 鈥� who he says was actually in a call center in another state. As it happens, Pund has a backup chair, so his disruptions were minimal compared to somebody who might be less fortunate. Had he not had the backup chair while he was waiting to get his fixed 鈥� and fighting with the state to make sure that Medicaid would pay for the repairs 鈥� Pund would have been bedridden for days at a time.

These are real consequences of the state鈥檚 failure to pay its workers or invest in programs intended to help the poor, the disabled or senior citizens.

On Wednesday, the Missouri Legislature begins . It will talk about guns and voter identification laws. The Republican supermajority will likely override Nixon鈥檚 vetoes of a variety of measures. But none of the discussion will focus directly on helping the people of the state thrive. That costs money. Money comes from taxes. Neither the Legislature nor Nixon have shown the willingness to deal seriously with the state鈥檚 reality: It needs more money to provide the basic services that make life better for its citizens.

It doesn鈥檛 matter if it鈥檚 roads or education, college scholarships or state worker pay. The story is the same year after year: Suck it up, Missouri.

For Pund, state worker pay isn鈥檛 just about the workers themselves 鈥� who deserve to make a decent living 鈥� but about the people they serve.

The old axiom 鈥� you get what you pay for 鈥� applies here.

Missouri pays less for its state workers than any other state in the nation.

The result is obvious to people like him, Pund says:

鈥淲e鈥檙e just racing toward the bottom.鈥�