Article from MIRS:

The union representing the Michigan State Police (MSP) troopers has outlined a series of cost-saving efforts aimed at keeping 100 troopers on the job.

Appearing before the House MSP Appropriations Subcommittee, union vice president Chris LUTY called for the regional consolidation of the 9-1-1 emergency phone system, allowing senior officers to retire after three years in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (PLAN) program instead of the current six and delaying the opening of the new MSP headquarters building in downtown Lansing.

Committee Chair Richard LEBLANC (D-Westland) added one more alternative. Would the union members take time off without pay? Luty said he would ask his membership about a furlough program for troopers. Every other state employee union has furlough days written into their contract.

In expanding on his recommendations, Luty reported in major cities around the county the 9-1-1 call system is centralized in one location. In Michigan, call centers are all over the state. The union leader argued regional consolidation would save money. What he didn't say is that the workers in those call centers could lose their jobs if that happens.

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The new MSP headquarters in downtown Lansing has been a legislative target for years. The department is set to move in next January, but Luty said there is a savings if the state does not pay rent for two years, which he told the committee was apparently an option although he had not read the lease.

He said he asked for a copy, but the Department of Management and Budget told the union to file a freedom of information request.

LeBlanc has legislation to accelerate DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Program), and Luty said this is not an early out program, which Granholm administration opposes.

"These are officers who are retired and just waiting to leave," he said.

Sen. Valde GARCIA (R-Howell), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, said on Wednesday that he, too, is open to finding ways to the save the troopers' jobs.

Luty said his office has fielded calls from Alaska and Virginia from state police departments expressing interest in the newly installed recruits, who may be out of work by the first of July.

One high ranking administration official, commenting on the MSP headquarters issue, noted that if you shut the project down, construction jobs would be lost to save the trooper jobs.