Furlough Days Possible for Department of Public Safety

By Kirsten McIntyre, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY – All employees of the Department of Public Safety, including troopers, are being told to plan for four furlough days a month beginning in March.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Chris West stated that the Department of Public Safety, like every other state agency, has a plan for the budget shortfall. That plan includes having troopers take four furlough days each month during March, April, May and June.

Right now, DPS is short more than $3 million to finish out the fiscal year, which ends in June. At the state Capitol, there is an effort underway to prevent those furloughs.

The plan includes doing some reorganization within DPS to save money. The reorganization of DPS would include putting more troopers back on the road performing the fundamentals of the patrol, as well as reducing mileage per trooper and the use of cell phones and Blackberries.

Also, money that was going to be used to build a new troop headquarters up in the Pawnee Perry area would be used towards the shortfall.

Representative Randy Terrill said he's hoping he can find enough money to mitigate or eliminate the furloughs.

"Public safety is a core essential function of state government. When you call 911, when you have an accident out on the highway, when you're in need of some sort of assistance and you call the highway patrol you expect them to be there," said Rep. Terrill.

"Every one of these decisions impacts a family somewhere. We're doing the best we can given the current budget situation we have. We're certainly mind full of that," said Sen. Anthony Sykes.

Nothing is final yet, but it's hoped by the end of the week they'll have better news to pass along to DPS employees.

Around 1,500 people are employed at the Department of Public Safety. About 90 percent of the agency's budget is personnel costs.