Some La. workers escape budget ax

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 3, 2009 - Page: 11A

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For a single day last week, 42 employees of the state parks system were out of a job.

The workers got pink slips June 24. A day later, the notices were rescinded after the Louisiana Legislature added funding for state parks and historic sites.

In the waning days of the legislative session, lawmakers put $2.3 million into House Bill 881, the supplemental budget,  for the parks and recreation program within the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, known as CRT.

“Had the bill not passed, we would have had to follow through with the notices,” CRT Secretary Pam Breaux said Thursday.

Seven workers at the state Department of Insurance were not as fortunate.

In the fiscal year that just started, the department’s budget is $29 million, about $2 million less than last year.  The bulk of the agency’s budget comes from fees and self-generated revenue.

“We’re hurting, definitely,” said Shirley Bowler, deputy commissioner of the insurance department’s Office of Management and Finance.

To cut costs, the agency earlier laid off 16 hourly employees, 16 student workers and five recently hired employees.

Plans were put into place to ask civil service officials next week for permission to lay off another six employees.

Bowler said that request was rescinded when five of the workers accepted an incentive to retire. Another worker, she said, moved to a different position within the agency.

The retiring employees agreed to take 39.3 percent — or a total of $169,266 — of their remaining salary for the year in exchange for leaving their jobs, Bowler said.

The positions will remain vacant until the budget problems ease, she said.

An unclassified employee making $88,000 a year in salary and benefits was laid off, Bowler said.