Thousands of workers in state agencies in Gov. Bill Richardson's administration will be required to take five unpaid furlough days to help New Mexico plug a more than $650-million budget gap this year.

To cut costs, the Democratic governor also plans to eliminate at least 84 political appointive jobs and won't fill 1,000 positions that are vacant because of a hiring freeze.

"I won't pretend that these actions will solve all our budget problems, but it's a start," Richardson said Thursday in signing deficit reduction measures that will save $470 million this year.

The furloughs are the equivalent of a temporary 2 percent salary cut and will save the state $10.8 million. They will apply to employees in agencies under the control of government — not workers in public schools and colleges, the courts and judicial agencies, the Legislature and the offices of elective officials such as the attorney general, secretary of state and land commissioner.

No decision has been made on when the furloughs will start. It's also likely that some workers in critical health and public safety programs, such as prisons, will be exempted. There are about 19,800 workers in administration agencies, but the governor said it's uncertain how many will be subject to furloughs.

Richardson said layoffs shouldn't become necessary to solve the state's continuing budget problems.

"I don't want people to lose their jobs. We focused on furloughs because I think they are more humane, they are more practical. We're not at a stage where we need to lay people off," said Richardson.

The governor signed a bill that cuts the state budget by varying amounts for programs, including about 1 percent for public schools and Medicaid and 2 percent for colleges and universities. Schools and colleges account for about 60 percent of state spending.

Richardson vetoed a provision that would have required administration agencies to lower spending by 7.6 percent during the rest of the 2010 fiscal year, which runs through June. He said those cuts were too deep and would have forced a dramatic reduction in services, including the potential early release of prison inmates.

The governor issued an executive order to reduce executive branch agency budgets by $79 million, or about 3.3 percent. Combined with previous cuts, agency spending will be 7 percent lower than in the last fiscal year. Richardson said no prisons or state parks will be closed and no prisoners will get early releases because of the cuts he ordered.

The Legislature approved a $525 million deficit reduction package and lawmakers estimated the state would have saved $93 million if Richardson agreed to the 7.6 percent cuts. The administration contended the executive branch reductions would have been about $125 million without the governor's veto. There was a disagreement between the Legislature and the administration over whether lawmakers had shielded Medicaid — one of the largest programs in government — from cuts.

The reductions for administration agencies will vary from department to department. But a majority of agencies will need to trim spending by more than 5 percent, according to Finance and Administration Secretary Katherine Miller.

Sen. John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Richardson could have lessened the pain of cuts on executive branch agencies and state workers had he imposed a spending lid shortly after the start of the fiscal year in July when it became clear state revenues would fall short of covering the budget.

The Legislature will need to take additional budget-balancing steps when lawmakers meet in January for a 30-day session. Smith estimated at least a $400 million budget shortfall in the next fiscal year, which starts in July.

"Unfortunately it's events like this that's starting to strike home with all New Mexicans that we do have serious problems," said Smith.




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