ANNAPOLIS | Plans for another round of Maryland state employee furloughs are likely to target higher-paid workers, much like a similar plan ordered in the last fiscal year, an official in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration told lawmakers Tuesday.
The plans are still being worked out, said Matthew Gallagher, Mr. O’Malley’s deputy chief of staff, who declined to mention the specific number of days employees would take under the plan. But he said they will focus on making lower-paid employees take fewer furlough days than those with higher salaries.
“I think that the furlough plan that was enacted in the last fiscal year gives some indication of the way that we want to go about doing it,” Mr. Gallagher told members of the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.
Mr. Gallagher said administration officials have met with labor negotiators six times in recent weeks to talk about the plan.
“I would characterize those discussions as ongoing,” Mr. Gallagher said.
Under this past fiscal year’s plan, state employees took at least two furlough days. Employees who made more than $40,000 a year took an additional two to three furlough days, depending on their salaries. The furlough plan affected about 67,000 of the state’s 80,000 employees in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30.
Mr. O’Malley’s budget officials are working on finding about $470 million in budget reductions by Labor Day to address a shortfall of more than $700 million due to declining state revenues resulting from the recession.
State budget officials are looking at cuts in state aid to local governments, employee compensation and programs in state agencies.
Last month, the board, which includes the governor, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot, approved about $280 million in spending reductions and fund transfers.
T. Eloise Foster, Mr. O’Malley’s budget secretary, said the additional reductions are to be brought to the Board of Public Works Aug. 26. Mrs. Foster said officials are seeking reductions that “are long-term and that are ongoing” to gain ground on future budget woes.
Mrs. Foster said the administration is working to avoid large numbers of layoffs, but she said some jobs could be cut as state agencies search for savings. In the reductions approved by the Board of Public Works last month, about 40 state jobs were cut and 18 vacant positions were eliminated.
A clearer picture of the state’s budget problems will be known on Sept. 17, when the state’s Board of Revenue Estimates releases revised state revenue estimates.
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