Furloughs

After bumping our heads on the debt ceiling, then teetering on the fiscal cliff, we are now threatened with something called sequestration. Had anyone even heard that word before a few months ago? Can anyone define it? Around these parts, it's all too real. Federal government workers and contractors wait nervously to see what these automatic spending cuts will mean in job furloughs and program trims. In Howard and Baltimore counties alone, tens of thousands of families owe their paycheck to the government.

With the BWI Marshall Airport terminal as a backdrop, Democratic members of Maryland's congressional delegation took turns Friday bashing mandatory federal budget cuts they said could harm not only air travel but local businesses that rely on passenger traffic. "Sequestration is no way to run a country," thundered Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore, his words echoing off shiny floors and windows as people with suitcases scurried by. "I told my staff this morning, 'I didn't come to Washington to throw my constituents under the bus.' " The U.S. Department of Transportation is facing a $7 billion cut, with $600 million of that money coming from the Federal Aviation Administration.

WASHINGTON -- Officials at the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration informed employees they do not anticipate furloughs when across-the-board federal budget cuts go into effect, the union that represents many of those workers said Thursday. The announcement came days before $85 billion in budget cuts known as sequestration were expected to take effect on Friday -- cuts that the Obama administration has warned could lead to government-wide furloughs. Acting Social Security Administration commissioner Carolyn Colvin informed employees in a meeting on Thursday that furloughs would be avoided.

The vast majority of civilian defense employees face a 20 percent pay cut from April through September if looming federal budget reductions aren't averted, a move that will hit Maryland harder than almost every other state, the Pentagon warned Wednesday. The Department of Defense notified Congress that affected employees would be furloughed without pay one day a week for 22 weeks. The agency estimated a $359 million hit to the paychecks of those working in Maryland - trailing only Virginia and California.

WASHINGTON -- Federal employees will receive an e-mail today alerting them that furloughs are possible if Congress fails to reach an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff, union officials said Thursday. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human relations arm of the federal government, informed labor leaders of the e-mail in a conference call Wednesday night. Officials stressed that no employment action would likely take place immediately. Maryland is home to about 300,000 federal workers -- roughly 10 percent of the state's civilian workforce -- and several economists have said that the failure to reach an agreement could have a disproportionate effect in the state.

Baltimore County Council members are poised to adopt a lean spending plan that would achieve savings largely through early retirements and reorganizations in a number of government departments. The council made only one cut Thursday to the $1.65 billion operating budget County Executive Kevin Kamenetz recommended in April. Members trimmed the Department of Public Works' fuel budget for dump trucks and other equipment by about $208,000 because the county auditor found that the administration had overestimated the cost of fuel.

Baltimore school employees would be forced to take furlough days if the district has to absorb millions of dollars in education cuts outlined in the state's "doomsday" budget, city schools CEO Andrés Alonso said Tuesday as he prepared to present the fiscal year 2013 budget. In preparation for a massive cut to public education should lawmakers fail to approve higher taxes in a special session starting Monday, the school system has developed a plan to negotiate with labor unions to have employees take four unpaid days off. Alonso said the system found that the four furlough days, which would not include instructional days, would yield enough savings to hold school budgets untouched, a guiding principle of the system's budget.

Members of the Baltimore County Police Executive Corps have agreed to higher pension contributions and less sick time in exchange for job security over the next three years. Under the agreement, announced Tuesday by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, the members are guaranteed no layoffs or furloughs between fiscal years 2013 and 2015. The bargaining unit is made up of 34 sworn officers ranked captain and above. They are not unionized. As part of the deal, current members will contribute an additional 1 percent of their salaries to their pensions starting July 1. They now contribute between 7 and 8 percent.

Baltimore County school employees have reached a tentative agreement with the school system that would raise the contributions employees make to their health care plans over the next five years in exchange for guarantees that there will be no layoffs or furloughs for three years. Over the next five years, the county's contribution to their health care premiums would drop to 80 percent from 90 percent, which would bring school employees in line with other county workers. School employees who elect to join an HMO would pay less than those who choose the other plans.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold told the county's members of the House of Delegates Friday that anticipated slots revenue would likely stave off the need for public employee furloughs. The county is expecting to receive about $15 million from a slots casino at Arundel Mills mall that is expected to open later this year, officials said. The county has furloughed its employees for up to 12 days for the past two years at a savings of $7.6 million annually as revenues have fallen.