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<h1 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Furloughs,
Layoffs May Be State's Next Steps<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:windowtext;
font-weight:normal'>James T. Madore Newsday September 27, 2009</span><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>ALBANY - Gov. <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/David_A_Paterson"><span style='color:windowtext;
text-decoration:none'>David A. Paterson</span></a> and some lawmakers are
raising the specter of furloughs - and even layoffs - of state workers to help
close the growing budget deficit, as other big states have done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>"We've not had to furlough or lay off any workers, but
the means of balancing budgets are becoming less and less available, and
everything is on the table," Paterson said recently. "We are going to
have to make sure <a href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/New_York%2C_NY"><span
style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>New York</span></a> can still
meet its obligations, that we don't delay payments which would injure our
financial status."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>New York has been the exception among large states in not
slashing its 200,000-person payroll. Four states and the <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/District_of_Columbia"><span
style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>District of Columbia</span></a>
have fired workers to close budget gaps. <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/New_Jersey%2C_NY"><span style='color:windowtext;
text-decoration:none'>New Jersey</span></a>, <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/Connecticut"><span style='color:windowtext;
text-decoration:none'>Connecticut</span></a> and seven others issued furloughs.
Fourteen states, including <a href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/California"><span
style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>California</span></a>, did both.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>Paterson has acted modestly so far, in part because of the
clout of state employee unions. This year's record $131.8-billion budget,
already $3 billion in the red, was balanced initially by a workforce reduction
producing savings of $260.3 million over two years. That goal was met by
cutting 3,722 jobs, largely through attrition and abolishing funded vacancies.
Barely 1,000 people took buyouts of $20,000 despite intense lobbying.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>A
Call For More Buyouts<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Now,
Budget Director Robert Megna is calling for another push to secure buyouts and
reduce hours. A hiring freeze remains in effect but doesn't cover the
legislature, courts, SUNY and other entities not under Paterson's control.
Experts said the steps aren't likely to reduce the deficit significantly. Tax
collections missed projections again last month.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>"You cannot close this year's deficit, let alone those
projected for the next three years, without significantly hitting the
workforce," said E.J. McMahon of the conservative Empire Center for New
York State Policy. The 2010-11 gap is projected to be $4.6 billion, followed by
$13.3 billion in 2011-12.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>"New York is like a vehicle running downhill toward the
edge of a chasm," he said. "We should be doing what the other states
are doing."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>James Parrott of the liberal Fiscal Policy Institute
disagreed, saying layoffs, and even furloughs, of state workers will slow the
economic recovery. The state is the biggest employer in many places so the
impact of job actions would be felt on <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY"><span style='color:windowtext;
text-decoration:none'>Long Island</span></a> and elsewhere, not exclusively in
Albany.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Promises
To Unions<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Paterson's
hands are tied somewhat in terms of paring the payroll. In June, he agreed to a
two-year ban on layoffs for members of the biggest unions, the <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/Civil_Service"><span style='color:windowtext;
text-decoration:none'>Civil Service</span></a> Employees Association and Public
Employees Federation, in return for them not opposing lesser retirement
benefits for new hires and supporting the buyouts.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>"The governor has given us a commitment and we do hold
him to it," said CSEA spokesman Stephen Madarasz.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>PEF wants the buyouts to be more widely available, saying
several hundred of its members were turned down because their jobs were deemed
essential.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>Ten other unions didn't sign the pact with Paterson, so their
members weren't eligible for buyouts. But he is willing to give them a similar
deal. "At least right now, they have a choice," he told Newsday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>Paterson also faces lawmakers who are loath to cut major
spending areas. "If the legislature will not look at education and health
care, cutting the payroll is the only way the governor can reduce
spending," said Robert B. Ward of SUNY's Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute
of Government in Albany. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>Legislative leaders are divided over furloughs and layoffs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>State Senate chief Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) believes
"we have to take into consideration all possible options with the
exception of tax increases," said aide Austin Shafran.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>But Sen. <a href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/Dean_Skelos"><span
style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>Dean Skelos</span></a> of <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/Rockville_Centre%2C_NY"><span
style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>Rockville Centre</span></a>, the <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/topics/U.S._Republican_Party"><span
style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>GOP</span></a> leader, balked at
furloughs and layoffs, saying "that's not necessary because there's enough
stimulus money."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>Budget officials countered that all the federal dollars have
been allocated. And Paterson warned that lawmakers couldn't delay much longer
in addressing the growing deficit: "I would suggest that shortly everybody
get their act together . . . or we will pay the penalties those other states
have paid."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;line-height:normal;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/furloughs-layoffs-may-be-state-s-next-steps-1.1481174?print=true<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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