Alabama Cuts May Not Be Needed
After a $1.5 billion infusion of Federal stimulus cash, Alabama’s fiscal problems may not lead to the drastic cuts in services that were anticipated.
The Department of Corrections has flirted with furloughs, even announcing a plan for as many as four furlough days to employees. But so far, none of the Corrections employees have had to take a furlough day, the department said Wednesday. That pattern may hold for the rest of fiscal 2009, which ends June 30. Then, if the 2010 budget holds its current form, furloughs may be avoided altogether at state prisons. “If nothing changes, it all looks good,” department budget director Ken Nash said in an e-mail forwarded to The Telegraph by a department spokeswoman.
Excerpted from a much broader article at Macon.com.