RI gov announces shutdown days to cut state costs

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Gov. Don Carcieri will shut down Rhode Island’s state government for up to a dozen days and make other cost-cutting moves as he struggles to balance a budget hammered by surging unemployment and plummeting tax revenue, a union official said Monday.

The Republican governor plans to announce a cost-trimming plan Monday afternoon that will include shutting down nonessential state offices. Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe would not comment on the specifics, except to say the plan involves several shutdown days.

In a briefing with union leaders Monday, Director of Administration Gary Sasse said the plan would require state workers to forgo up to 12 days of pay, said J. Michael Downey, president of Council 94, the largest state employees union, who attended the briefing. Sasse did not return a call seeking comment.

The number of shutdown days could be fewer if workers in the General Assembly, courts and other independent agencies not under Carcieri’s control agree to participate, Downey said.

Carcieri’s plan is likely to spark a legal fight with state employee unions that contend it violates their contracts. In bargaining last year, state workers agreed to give up a pay raise and pay more for their health insurance as state leaders struggled to balance the budget.

“It was a very difficult contract that we signed,” Downey said. “We did what we think is all we can do as taxpayers and state workers. We’re saying to them that enough of the budget problems have been taken on the backs of state employees.”

Furloughs or shutdowns have been proposed in at least 19 states as they confront one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression, according to a survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Rhode Island, income tax and sales tax revenue dropped as unemployment surged to 12.7 percent, the second-highest jobless rate in the nation behind Michigan.

Facing massive budget deficits, state lawmakers approved a $7.8 billion state budget in June that requires Carcieri to trim about $68 million in personnel and operating expenses. The spending plan did not say where the bulk of the savings would come from.

Carcieri criticized the budget but still signed it.

Besides shutting down government, Carcieri wants permission to withhold state spending already approved in the budget. Lawmakers rejected a similar request from Carcieri earlier this year.