Workers for state stay home First furlough day part of budget balancing effort

PORTLAND – Thousands of state workers stayed home without pay on Friday as state government was shut down for the first of three furlough days designed to help deal with a budget shortfall.

Gov. Angus King, who vowed in his first State of the State address that furloughs “are part of our past,” resorted to the approach because of a budget deficit estimated to be $180 million through next June.

The furlough days, each designed to save $1.5 million, are part of King’s actions estimated to be worth nearly $60 million.

Exempted were state troopers and other emergency workers, state parks and ferry operations, and the court system.

Courts were exempted because the state court administrator decided they could not be shut down on such short notice.

In Portland, 20 clerks reported for work but only one judge was on duty. On a typical day, five or six judges were on the bench.

Clerks made the best of it. They dressed casually and brought in a potluck breakfast to fortify themselves before taking advantage of a rare slow day to dive into the piles of paper that accumulated on desks.

“There’s a lot of little things you don’t get to when you’re running at full speed. You get time to catch your breath,” said Penny Whitney, chief clerk.

In Bangor, some Mainers looking to renew their licenses at the Department of Motor Vehicles office in the Airport Mall were upset to learn the facility was closed.

“Why are they closed? It’s not a holiday,” asked Wayne Mitchell, a truck driver from Waldo, who was unaware of the furlough day before he drove to Bangor on Friday.

Mitchell said he needed to renew his license before driving a shipment to Indiana next week and that he’d have to return to the DMV office in Bangor Monday before leaving the state.

At Popham Beach State Park, manager Brian Murray pointed out that he was not immune from furloughs, even though the park was open.

Murray had to make up for the cuts but they were spread out instead of being scheduled all on one day. That meant two of his 16 workers had the day off on Friday, a day in which the beaches were crowded with sunbathers.

“It’s a busy park, so we’re stretching what resources we have. Obviously, we get behind,” Murray said from Phippsburg. “The employees are pitching in a lot harder to try to keep things up.”

In Gray, Trooper John Hainey did not have the day off, either. In fact, he was working a double shift as state police dealt with extra security details, including one for President Bush in Kennebunkport.

Hainey used the quiet time in the office to work on a child abuse investigation. “We’re just going about doing our work,” he said.

King has said scheduling three so-called furlough days – the first since Gov. John McKernan was in office – could avoid as many as 100 direct layoffs. The state work force is estimated to exceed 14,600 employees.

In addition to King’s package of unilateral steps aimed at reducing a revenue shortfall, the governor hopes to defer some tax cuts and transfer money from the state’s tobacco money fund and from its laptop computer fund.

The governor also said a process of attrition could have the effect of reducing the state work force by 350 positions.

The deficit was originally pegged at $180 million but state officials are worried that it will grow even higher. Sales and corporate tax collections continue to be concerns for fiscal 2003.