The state is still tallying the total damages from Tropical Storm Irene,
but the overall cost could exceed $2 billion when state and town
infrastructure damages are combined with private property loss.
State
government faces another year of declining revenues and almost-certain budget
cuts. So the Legislature is looking for 30 million dollars
in efficiencies throughout government.
The
state plans to lay off more workers next week unless there’s progress on
cutting employee pay. That
was the word Thursday from officials in the Douglas Administration.
The union
representing state workers is resisting calls by the Douglas administration for more pay cuts and is expected to face up to 320
layoffs instead.