The biennial budget approved by the Appropriations Committee includes 10 state government shutdown days each year. These are days when most state workers would not go to work and would not be paid, to help achieve the savings needed to balance the budget.

The Department of Administrative and Financial Services will determine which workers will be exempt from the provision, Commissioner Ryan Low said. It will likely include corrections officers and state troopers, among others.

“The decisions will be based on the best policy for the state of Maine and it will depend on what their duties are,” Low said, adding that he would consult the list of workers exempted during the last government shutdown under the McKernan administration in the early 1990s.

Low said he expected most top-level employees would participate.

“I have a department of 1,400 people; I make a reasonable salary and I will be taking my 10 days off,” he said.

The governor’s salary is set by statute and can’t be changed during a term in office.

But Gov. John Baldacci has said that he would reimburse the state for his share, said spokesman David Farmer. “In his case, and in the case of many individuals, it’s a pay cut because they are likely to work even if there is a shutdown day.”

The Appropriations Committee specifically exempted most staff in the judicial branch from the shutdown, though there still would be some affected workers.

Legislators would also be exempt from the shutdown days, though proportional cuts will be made.

“For legislators, because they get paid by the session and not by the day, it will come out of the overall legislative budget,” said Tim Feeley of the House Speaker’s Office.

– Rebekah Metzler