Shutdowns End in Connecticut, Maine

Thousands of state workers in Connecticut and Maine reported back to their jobs Monday for the first time in a week, but budget impasses continued in those states and in Pennsylvania, where paychecks have been held up.

“I’m a widow. It’s hard,” said Bernice Spagnolo, who joined 75 other Pennsylvania state employees at a Capitol rally to demand an end to the weeklong budget deadlock. She hoisted a homemade sign that asked: “Who is going to pay my bills?”

In Maine, Gov. John R. McKernan Jr. signed a $3.2-billion budget Monday, sending 10,000 people back to work and ending a partial government shutdown that began July 1. All but about 3,000 workers deemed essential were off last week.

But state employees still faced uncertainty because the Republican governor made a deal with Democratic lawmakers that the new budget will be canceled Wednesday if the Legislature fails to cut workers’ compensation.

McKernan and his GOP allies want business insurance costs curbed as a condition for accepting nearly $300 million in income, sales and gasoline tax increases.

The governor wants Maine’s insurance system covering on-the-job injuries scaled back by a third from an estimated $500 million. Democrats agree employers’ costs need to be cut, but not by rolling back benefits for injured workers.

In Connecticut, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. let a stopgap spending bill become law, ending a shutdown that had idled about 20,000 of the state’s 48,000 employees. The Legislature on Monday easily approved a second, two-week temporary spending measure that would fund operations through July 28.

Furloughed state workers returned to work, angered but relieved.

A budget summit between Weicker, an independent who favors an income tax, and legislative leaders broke down Monday.

Weicker has vetoed two no-income-tax budgets that cleared the General Assembly.

Conservative Democrats and Republicans mounted a new drive Monday to override Weicker’s veto and put into law a full-year budget that doesn’t contain an income tax.

Connecticut, with a budget last year of $7.5 billion, faces a projected deficit of $942 million for the last fiscal year and $1.8 billion for the current one.

In Harrisburg, Pa., negotiators resumed talks on a state budget Sunday. Pennsylvania is struggling with a $467-million deficit for the last fiscal year.

The impasse cost 10,000 employees their paychecks last week and left schools and social service agencies without money.

Another 10,000 of Pennsylvania’s 117,000 state employees will miss a payday on Friday if a budget is not passed. The state is holding the paychecks, and officials said that they will be released when a budget is passed.

At issue are spending for education, mass transit, the lottery and youth programs as well as a measure that would sell state liquor stores to private owners.

Jeff Benson, one of the Capitol protesters, said that he will soon be forced to borrow money to pay his bills.

“When you’ve worked for your money, I think you should have it,” he said. “They’re fooling with your livelihood.”