DOVER -- A state hiring freeze will be implemented Wednesday as budget officials grapple with a worse-than-expected shortfall for the current fiscal year.
The hiring freeze will be accompanied by a push to reduce current-year expenditures by $100 million to $150 million, instead of the earlier planned cut of $50 million to $75 million.
It will be the first state hiring freeze since 2004, when Gov. Ruth Ann Minner froze state hiring in the face of declining revenues.
Jennifer “JJ” Davis, director of the state Office of Management and Budget, said today that the freeze “will be in effect before noon tomorrow.”
“I believe that we will try to do this without layoffs,” Davis said.
The freeze will not affect the judiciary or Legislature, which are co-equal branches of government. It also will not affect public schools or higher education.
In addition Davis said she would request an additional 5 percent in reductions to the proposed operating budget for fiscal 2009, which begins July 1. That is in addition to the 3 percent cut announced before projected revenues plummeted.
Those measures should address the projected $126 million hole in Delaware's current operating budget, as well as the $200 million shortfall projected for fiscal 2009, Davis said.
