Ron DuPree took time off from his job at the University of Maryland downtown to pay a parking ticket in Towson, but the tall black doors to the old courthouse in the Baltimore County seat were inexplicably locked.
"I don't like it," Mr. DuPree of Owings Mills said after he learned the county government was closed yesterday for the first of five unpaid furlough days.
"I took comp time for this. I'd rather be at work," he added, muttering under his breath as he walked away.
Scott Pettersen had to delay his company's construction of a day-care center in Randallstown when he was unable to straighten out some problems with his plumbing license because the county Department of Permits and Licenses was closed.
And Kurt Rupprecht, 25, drove all the way from Bel Air to check on a piece of property he is interested in buying, only to find the county office building doors locked -- with no sign explaining why.
If the government closed, would anyone notice? Apparently, they would.
Baltimore County, like other metropolitan area counties and state government, is furloughing 8,000 employees for five days through the spring to save $5.2 million. Yesterday was the first of those days off.
Another $7.8 million will be cut from school salary budget accounts, but Superintendent Robert Y. Dubel has not yet ordered teacher furloughs in the hope that the General Assembly will rescind the cuts.
The next furlough day is Monday, President's Day, which is a county and state holiday anyway, so employees simply won't get paid for it. The other days are March 25, Maryland Day; April 17, Good Friday; and May 25, Memorial Day.
Baltimore County so far has lost $57 million from a combination of state budget cuts and less revenue coming in due to the recession. Because the county cannot raise taxes in the middle of a budget year, cuts and furloughs were the only choices short of layoffs, which have been avoided, county officials said. The budget year ends June 30.
County Executive Roger B. Hayden spent his furlough day in Annapolis lobbying legislators for greater understanding of the county's plight, he said.
Not everyone inconvenienced by yesterday's furlough was upset. "I think it's good. They should be furloughed. It saves money," said Towson lawyer Nicholas Young, who visited county offices yesterday to get lien papers from the tax office only to find the building closed.
