Public safety braces for mandatory furloughs

Agencies like the New Mexico State Police, corrections and state health employees are planning to...  More »

Agencies like the New Mexico State Police, corrections and state health employees are planning to implement a five-day furlough for all of their employees in order to save the state money. The unpaid furlough was announced by Governor Bill Richardson last week as he vetoed budget cuts passed by the legislature meeting in special session. Richardson had initially wanted to exempt public safety employees from the furloughs, but the governor's office said Tuesday that public safety workers will also receive a five-day furlough. Sandy Perez, the director of state personnel, estimates the furlough for all employees of the executive branch will save the state approximately $10.8 million. Still, some agencies are concerned about the impact on the public - especially agencies that deal with public health and safety. "We can make it feel and look like less of an impact," said George Bernal, President of the New Mexico State Police Association, "but it is simple math that you are one less, two, three less officers on every shift. That is going to have an impact at some point." Officials with the governor's office say the furloughs are necessary in order to ensure that state budgets aren't cut, something Bernal says state police will have to deal with. "We start dealing with adversity from our job the first day of our academy," he said, "It is nothing we are not used to, but it just makes it a little bit harder to do our job." The furloughs must to be taken before the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.  « Less