Shutdown Puts Local Feds In Financial Limbo Furloughed Workers Raiding Savings Accounts, Unemployment Benefits To Get Through

Before leaving his office Tuesday, Fritz Rennebaum watered the withered plants.

After all, he didn’t know when he’d be back.

The Bureau of Land Management’s Coeur d’Alene office has been dark since Dec. 16, when the federal budget standoff left the bureau without money to pay workers. Many other federal agencies are affected, including the Forest Service, Veterans Affairs, Social Security and the Bureau of Mines.

“My people are in dire straits,” said Rennebaum, a BLM district manager who stopped in to pick up his mail. “They’re having to dip into savings accounts, borrow money, or just not pay bills.”

There are about 1,400 federal workers in North Idaho, according to the Idaho Department of Employment. Statewide, 910 have applied for unemployment benefits, said Jo Ann Edmiston, claims supervisor for the Job Service office in Coeur d’Alene.

The maximum benefit in Idaho is $248 a week; in Washington it’s $350. The unemployment checks should arrive early next week, Edmiston said.

“I think they’re getting a little worried,” she said.

Most of the furloughed workers will get a little relief this week, when they’ll get checks covering one week of their December pay.

But deductions will be taken out as if the check contained two weeks’ pay, Rennebaum said.

“So what they’re going to see is not half a paycheck, but significantly less than half a paycheck,” he said.

The budget stalemate is not affecting payments to the recipients of government services, officials emphasize. VA pensions and disability checks were sent out on time.

Social Security retirement, disability and survivors checks should be in the mailbox or directly deposited into bank accounts today. But as furloughed workers’ rents and mortgages come due, they’re scrambling to come up with money.

“There were quite a few at the credit union last week, getting money to make the house payment, dipping into savings, or cashing in bonds,” said Ted Graf, a BLM worker.

Many, he said, have taken their children out of day care to save money.

“Some people are volunteering, helping out with the food bank and stuff. Most are just trying to keep busy at home,” he said.

Some “essential” workers, such as law enforcement officers, have been ordered to work without pay.

“Our hope is that we’ll get paid; we just don’t know when,” said Brad Gilbert, a Forest Service ranger. Some fear that it could be a month before checks catch up, he said.

“That starts to look pretty scary to folks, me included,” he said.

Gilbert spent the day at the St. Maries federal building, one of three employees in an office for 30. He spent much of his day consoling out-of-work colleagues. For those living paycheck to paycheck, the federal shutdown’s been a rude awakening, he said.

“They’re quite concerned. They’re starting to worry about how to deal with their creditors,” he said.

Ironically, Gilbert and other emergency workers are caught in a catch-22. They aren’t getting paid by the federal government, but since they’re working they can’t qualify for unemployment checks.

“It’s kind of a double whammy,” he said.

Jan Liane, a nurse and coordinator at Spokane’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center’s same-day surgery center, doubts that the politicians in Washington, D.C., have any idea what the uncertainty and the financial stress is doing to federal workers. The labeling of some workers “non-essential,” and the jokes that designation spawns, was another slap in the face to some workers, she added.

The VA Medical Center in Spokane, which has more than 400 federal workers, has set up several programs to assist employees through the budget stalemate. Federal credit unions around Spokane are offering low-interest loans to cover the portions of paychecks that are being held back.

The medical center’s store will take post-dated checks for basic food items and sundries. The employees’ association is setting up a food bank after receiving some canned goods and produce from a local supermarket. The National Federation of Federal Employees Local 1641 will tap into its emergency fund for emergency grants.

“People can pay it back later if they can,” said Nancy Jordan, treasurer of the local union.

Workers aren’t looking for new jobs because of the shutdown, Gilbert said. But it has affected how they view their job security.

“People in the federal work force can’t count on the stability that we thought we could,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo