State furloughs to affect Pioneer Woman Museum

Dr. Bob Blackburn, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, announced today that budget cuts have reached the point where the department must schedule employee furlough days to make up for the deficit.

" Bad news. The Governor’s office declared another revenue shortfall. Officially, it was 4 percent, but because our bond payments were not shielded, it is actually 5.7 percent, or an additional $463,121," Blackburn said in a memo to employees. "To make it worse, sales tax revenue was down even more than anticipated, which added another $11,000 to the deficit. Although we have found savings of $895,340 this year, we are out of options other than furlough days.

"The deficit at this time is $36,121, but we expect that to worsen if the sales tax downward trend continues. Therefore, we will need to enact 2 furlough days to make up the deficit."

Blackburn recommended employees take one furlough day in March, which has more days than other months, and another sometime before June 30.

Furlough days are classified as involuntary leave without pay.

Blackburn made these points about furloughs:

• The furlough does not affect retirement.
• The furlough does not affect the accumulation of annual leave or sick leave.
• 999 employees are not part of the furlough since they are hourly.
• The furlough affects all full-time employees regardless of the source of their funding.

The Pioneer Woman Museum in Ponca City is part of the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Museums and Sites division and will be affected by the furloughs.