BOSTON (AP) - The top budget official in Massachusetts says the
Legislature has taken a "risky" approach by adjourning for the
remainder of the year without closing a projected $125 million
state budget deficit.

Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez told the
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Friday that Wall Street
credit agencies recently reaffirmed the state's bond rating in part
because of its proactive financial management.

He said "crossing our fingers, and hoping our revenues will get
better and solve our problem, is not responsible budget management.
It's risky."

In response, Gonzalez said, Gov. Deval Patrick is now preparing
a plan to close the remaining deficit unilaterally, since the House
and Senate rejected his request to give him expanded authority to
cut legislative, judicial and constitutional officer budgets. That
could trigger deep program cuts.

"I am very concerned about leaving our budget shortfall
unaddressed," Gonzalez told the business leaders. "The longer we
wait to make cuts that need to be made, the deeper the impact on
programs and services."

The sharp words amounted to a follow-up jab by the
administration. On Thursday, Patrick made an unscheduled appearance
in the Statehouse press gallery to make many of the same points
himself.

He accused the Legislature of "brinksmanship" and urged
members to reconvene to pass a crime bill, education overhaul and
give him more budget-balancing authority.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo offered a tart response to the
governor, who is gearing up his 2010 re-election campaign.

"Governor Patrick's comments seem to be more about political
necessity than 'moral obligation,"' DeLeo aide Seth Gitell said in
a written statement. "Speaker DeLeo's obligation is to the
commonwealth's schoolchildren - not Governor Patrick's political
calendar."

House and Senate budget leaders argued they had done what's
needed by making over $400 million in cuts, but hours after
Gonzelez spoke, DeLeo announced a five-day furlough program for 540
House staff members. He estimated it would save $620,000 during the
budget year. The 160 members of the House itself will have to
participate voluntarily, since legislative salaries are set by a
constitutional amendment.

"Every corner of state government has been hit by the
recession, and the House is no different," DeLeo said in a joint
statement with Rep. Bradley H. Jones Jr. of North Reading, who
serves as the chamber's minority leader.

House and Senate budget leaders also defended themselves by
saying they are asking constitutional officers and the judiciary to
make voluntary cuts within their own budgets, arguing they know how
to control them better than the governor or the House and Senate.

In a related development, Gonzalez announced that four unions
representing 75 percent of the state's 40,000-person executive
branch union work force have agreed to forgo raises and take
furloughs to join management employees in staving off potential
layoffs.

Negotiators for AFSCME, NAGE, SEIU Local 509 and SEIU Local 888
struck the deals this week and now are presenting them to rank and
file for approval.

Gonzalez said the deals would create "tens of millions in
savings" and represented the first time a governor had gotten a
furlough agreement and delay in contracted wage increase since
state employee collective bargaining started in 1974.

Patrick said in October that Massachusetts would have to cut
about 2,000 jobs to close an estimated $600 million budget deficit.
He said 1,000 of those cuts would happen regardless, due to program
cuts. But he called on unions to match management concessions to
avoid up to 1,000 layoffs he feared would drastically harm the
state's delivery of services.

The governor ordered managers to take up to nine furlough days,
depending on their salary. Gonzalez said the unions had matched the
savings either through furloughs, compensation givebacks or a
combination of both.

After his speech, the secretary told reporters that if the
agreements are ratified, it would save "hundreds" of jobs.

The administration continues to negotiate with unions
representing State Police troopers and other government employees.