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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Budget cuts could trim jobs, but lack of jobs drives budget shortfall…

As Gov. Butch Otter ponders whether to make additional cuts in Idaho's already much-trimmed state budget, he faces a dilemma: Budget cuts could trim state jobs, at the same time that a precipitous drop in jobs is what's driving Idaho's state budget crunch. In August, Idaho had fewer jobs than it had in August of 2005 - despite adding more than 100,000 residents.

"We talk about the budget shortfall, but that's the symptom," says House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, a physician. "The disease is the fact that people aren't working." So far, proposals coming in from state agencies on ways to make further cuts include possible additional layoffs or furloughs of state employees.

Since the current state budget crisis began, Idaho has laid off 71 employees due to budget cuts, according to state payroll records. In addition, more than 4,500 state employees were given unpaid furloughs in the last fiscal year, which ended July 1, resulting in more than 12,000 unpaid days off work. Since July 1, 4,625 employees have been put on furlough and taken more than 7,000 unpaid days off, and that's less than three months into the fiscal year. Some agencies have shut down entirely on specified days, for agency-wide furlough days. Not included in those figures are cuts made by attrition, where state agencies opted not to fill vacancies when they occurred and instead eliminated the positions.

Most expect Otter to impose some kind of additional cut, though this year's state budget already is $330 million less than Idaho's budget was two years ago. "I don't see any way he can not," said Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, JFAC co-chair. You can read my full story here in today's Spokesman-Review.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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