Politics & Government
Raimondo: State Layoffs Unavoidable To Meet $800M Budget Deficit
"With an $800 million deficit it's hard to get out of this without doing furloughs," Gov. Gina Raimondo said.
PROVIDENCE, RI — Facing down an $800 million deficit in the state budget, Gov. Gina Raimondo said Tuesday that "everything is on the table" when it comes to balancing the books, including furloughing state workers. While state leaders are starting to plan the budget for next year, everything will remain up in the air until the federal government potentially approves more federal stimulus money, Raimondo said.
"This budget is going to be brutal," Raimondo said. "I don't know how we are going to find $800 million. Everything is on the table. ... [We] are not going to be able to do just traditional cuts."
The governor said she has been hesitant to lay off workers, not wanting to add to the historic unemployment numbers in the state. Instead, state workers who might have otherwise been furloughed have been repurposed for different needs during the pandemic, such as contact tracing. However, Raimondo admitted that there is no way the state will be able to balance the budget without some layoffs.
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"With an $800 million deficit it's hard to get out of this without doing furloughs [of state workers]," Raimondo said. "I would love to avoid furloughs and layoffs, but I don't see how we are going to do that."
State leaders have begun to discuss plans for budgeting out of a deficit while also facing a precipitous drop in revenue. The budgeting process will look a lot different if another round of federal stimulus money is approved, Raimondo said, reminding Rhode Islanders that the state received more than $1 billion in the first round. The state's congressional delegation continues to be in constant contact, the governor said, but another stimulus package is still likely two to three weeks away, she said.
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Patch editor Scott Souza contributed to this report.
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