ALBANY — In less than two weeks, about 100,000 workers will be told to stay home one

day a week without pay until a 2010 state budget is approved, Gov. David A. Paterson vowed

Tuesday.

The governor also dangled an incentive program to lure older and better-paid state workers

into retirement, a plan extended to every local government across New York, including school

districts, counties and cities.

While some lawmakers and union officials suggested Paterson will retreat, the governor

insisted Tuesday he will include the furlough in the next round of emergency spending bills

the Legislature is expected to consider Monday.

A furlough would save the state $30 million a week. Putting furloughs into the emergency bills

gives Paterson the upper hand on the issue because the temporary legislation — needed

every week since the fiscal year began April 1 without a budget adopted — requires an up

or down vote by lawmakers, who would force a total government shutdown if the measure fails.

Not all state workers would be furloughed. Jobs involving public safety, such as state

troopers and prison guards, and certain health posts, such as nurses at mental health

facilities, would work regular shifts.

Also, only executive branch agencies would be affected, which would include such

departments as environmental conservation and the state university system but not the

legislative or judicial branches or state authorities such as the Thruway Authority.

Agencies affected would devise work schedules to rotate workers during the week so, for

instance, most workers do not take off a Monday or Friday.

The state employs about 16,000 executive branch workers in Western New York.

The furlough would not take place until the week of May 17, giving lawmakers time to get a

budget deal. That would be optimistic, though, given the pace of talks.

The governor said public employee unions' refusal to agree to $250 million in payroll

cuts to help close the state's $9.2 billion deficit has forced him to take the action.

"Everyone is sacrificing in this deficit reduction ... [The unions] are basically telling us

that they shouldn't take a cut at all," Paterson said.

Some lawmakers are surprised and skeptical that Paterson will go through with the

furlough, since he has earned a reputation for backing down from threats.

Paterson, frustrated at the lack of progress by lawmakers on the budget, hopes to use the

furlough to prod them to get more serious about adopting a plan.

"We are more and more sinking into a deficit situation," he said, adding the state risks

running out of money by June 1, which would force borrowing or more delayed bill payments.

"I'm not just going to sit around and let this situation overwhelm the taxpayers of New York."

The governor's plan forces lawmakers — in a key election year — to choose

between shutting down the government or bucking politically influential public employee

unions, which say Paterson's move is illegal and violates existing collective bargaining

agreements.

Tuesday, some lawmakers suggested state workers should prepare for the pay cuts a furlough

will bring. "What the governor is doing is basically an illegal act, but the bottom line is

I'm not going to shut government down," said Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson

of Brooklyn.

The furlough plan would keep executive branch workers home without pay one day a week until

a budget is in place.

The largest state workers union first expressed skepticism that Paterson will carry out his

threat. But later, Civil Service Employees Association President Danny Donohue said his union

is "prepared to respond to the governor's actions but believes he should be focused on

resolving the state's budget mess, not bashing his own state employees in the media."

Any action by the union would be in the courts. There is one year left on a four-year contract

between the state and its largest unions. The labor groups say the state cannot cut pay during

that period without their approval.

One scenario had the furlough occurring over the next five or six weeks before a budget

deal is reached. And then, one official said, unions would likely prevail in court and get a

lump sum back payment for workers affected by the furlough.

Non-union, managerial-level workers would not be affected, Paterson said, because they have

not had raises in two years, while unionized workers have received pay hikes of 13 percent

over the past four years, including this year's raise, which is being delayed until the budget

is passed.

While Paterson was pushing the furlough idea, his administration Tuesday also proposed an

incentive program to try to prod older, higher-paid state workers into retirement. Local

government workers also could participate.

The plan has two either/or components. The first would permit workers age 55 or older to

retire without a pension penalty after 25 years of service, instead of 30. In cases where such

workers leave service, the agencies would not be permitted to refill the position.

The second feature would provide an extra month of pension credit, up to 36 months, for

every year of service. It would, for example, permit someone with 28 years of service to

retire with 31 years for pension purposes. But the director of state operations can deny the

benefit if the worker is involved in public safety or health care jobs.

In either case, the program is "targeted," meaning agencies ultimately will control who can

take the early retirement.

The Paterson administration says it has no idea yet how much the early-retirement program

might save the state, and critics have said such incentives often end up costing the state

more in the long run because future administrations can fill the positions supposedly left

vacant.