Paterson's Budget Director Says Lay Off Plan Could Come in August

By Karen DeWitt

Albany, New York – Governor Paterson's budget director says a lay off plan for state workers may be drawn up as early as August, and numbers will depend on the results of an early retirement plan.

State budget director Bob Megna says numbers crunchers will take the next week to ten days to measure the savings from an early retirement program for state workers, and then could begin devising a plan to trim some jobs.

"After that I think we need to sit down with the governor," said Megna. "And decide if we have to take further actions, including lay offs."

Governor Paterson has already said he supports lay offs as a means of achieving $250 million dollars in workforce savings already included in the state budget. His administration signed a memo with state worker unions saying there would not be any job cuts this calendar year. Paterson tried delaying a scheduled pay raise, and furloughing workers, but was rebuffed in court.