State employees could be facing more than 4,700 layoffs and millions in additional spending cuts if they fail to reach an agreement with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on savings and concessions.
Malloy's budget director has released a "Plan B'' budget Friday that would layoffs in all three branches of government, as well as options for an additional $1.2 billion in spending cuts.
The new proposal would move forward if the state fails to reach an agreement on concessions with the state-employee unions. The Malloy administration and the unions are scheduled to continue holding talks this weekend for $2 billion in savings over the next two years, but there is no hard-and-fast deadline if progress is being made.
"I'm not going to put a time limit on it,'' said Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy's senior adviser and chief spokesman. "It's a fluid situation. It's a sensitive situation.''
The $1.2 billion in proposed cuts is a menu of possible reductions that Malloy would choose and then propose to the legislature - rather than being the actual plan.
"It is a framework,'' Occhiogrosso said.
Under the law passed this week as part of the budget, the new cuts would require approval by the Democratic-controlled legislature before the end of the legislative session on June 8.
Overall, the options include $1.67 billion in cuts to fill a hole of $1 billion, including $455 million that would be saved from the 4,742 layoffs of both unionized and non-union workers. The layoffs would include nearly 4,200 layoffs in the executive branch through state agencies, 80 in the legislative branch, and 470 in the judicial branch.
The state has 46,290 full-time workers who are paid with state funds, and the totals do not include part-time workers or those paid with federal funds.
The layoffs would be made at more than 40 different departments and agencies, ranging from the state prison system to the University of Connecticut.
The agencies would have an average cutback of 10 percent of the workforce, but the numbers vary widely from agency to agency.
At the Department of Revenue Services, where the state is trying to collect as much in taxes as possible, only 1.6 percent of the workforce would be laid off. At the Department of Developmental Services, which is one of the largest state agencies with 3,617 employees, only 1.5 percent would be laid off.
The highest number of layoffs would come at the State Department of Education, which would lose 1,413 of its 1,706 employees - or 82.8 percent.
The other agencies with large layoffs would be 471 jobs in higher education, including the Connecticut State University system, 319 at the Department of Corrections, 285 at the University of Connecticut, 277 at the state transportation department, and 188 at the newly formed Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
In the governor's office, 3 of the authorized 27 positions would be eliminated. In addition, 12 of the 148 positions in the governor's budget office - a separate entity - would be eliminated.
While the corrections department has a relatively large number with 319 layoffs, it represents about 5 percent of the department's 6,493 employees.
At the Department of Children and Families, a long-troubled agency that has often been in the headlines with problems with troubled children, 3.2 percent of the agency's 3,284 workers would be laid off.