AUGUSTA – State budget negotiators have reversed course and scrapped a plan to impose a one-time 5 percent pay cut on state workers.

Instead, legislative budget bargainers with the support of Gov. John Baldacci’s administration have moved back to a plan that would rely on government shutdown days – 10 in each of the coming two years – to save close to $14 million.

Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell said Monday the change came in response to complaints over the proposed pay cut from state employees.

The revised package would also freeze merit pay and longevity pay for additional savings of close to $12 million more and introduce employee contributions for health insurance.

Baldacci’s two-year general fund spending plan totals close to $6 billion.

Members of the Appropriations Committee made quick work of several lingering budget items late Monday afternoon, as they sought to close the remaining state budget shortfalls for fiscal years 2009, 2010 and 2011.

A provision that would ramp up data sharing between state agencies to help increase state income tax collections and a proposal made by Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, to restore cuts made to adult education were unanimously approved.

“The people hurt by these cuts are working hard to try and better their lives, people going back for their GEDs and trying to prepare themselves for higher education,” Rotundo said. “They are exactly the people we should be trying to help. To cut 10 percent from their budget was ill-advised to me.”

Rotundo helped pay for the restoration in part by a one-time allocation of $190,000 from within the Department of Education.

A 5 percent across-the-board cut to the state’s Clean Elections program was also quickly approved.

The program provides funding to state legislative and gubernatorial candidates.

Negotiators also reached an agreement regarding the state Dairy Stabilization Tier Program, which was facing a significant funding shortfall over the biennium due to historically low milk prices for Maine farmers.

Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, who had expressed concerns about the plan put forth by his policy committee, said Monday he was supportive of the compromise.

“But I am still concerned for the small farms,” he said.

Republicans and Democrats agreed to cap the program at the funding levels outlined by the governor’s proposal and that there would not be any legislative support for collecting fees on solid milk items, such as cheese, yogurt, ice cream or butter, Nutting said.

The program currently benefits from a handling fee paid by dairy processors on units of fluid milk.

“I will say that both the dairy industry and Sen. Nutting have agreed to what you have in front of you,” said Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake.

Martin’s proposal evenly spreads monthly payments to farmers out over the first fiscal year, skips the December 2009 scheduled payment, and calls for the creation of a task force to reassess the program. The 17-member panel would consist of industry stakeholders and legislators and report back to the Legislature with a plan for long-term stability within the dairy industry by November 27, 2009.

The committee began discussions on other contested issues, such as tweaking the state income tax, making further cuts to programs within the Department of Health and Human Services, payments owed to hospitals for past services and cuts in either salary or health care benefits to state workers, but broke at around 8 p.m. to eat dinner and wait for further amendments to get drafted.