Is there really any good news when it comes to the state’s financial situation?
Governor Bredesen announced today that in order to deal with the states $550 million budget shortfall, there are going to have to be significant reducations to the state’s workforce. He’s not saying how many of 45,000 state employees will be losing their jobs, but that it is not going to be a small number. This is on top of the expected 160 DCS cuts caused by a lack of state funding.
Yesterday, my story talked about some of the things that could be on the chopping block for next year. It looks like those 2 percent employee pay raises are out. We won’t know any of the specifics to anything until the governor lays out his revised budget on May 12. I know lawmakers were hoping to get out by the end of next week, working through the weekend if necessary. But it looks like they’ll be staying a little longer.
