11/19/09

BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ To skirt layoffs in Gov. C.L. ``Butch''
Otter's budget office, his finance chief has become Idaho human
resources director, too.

Wayne Hammon took over as interim Division of Human Resources
head Oct. 30 when its former head, Judy Wright, retired eight
months earlier than she'd planned.

With the move, Human Resources agreed to pump about $45,000 _
roughly half of Wright's salary _ into her state pension fund, to
boost her retirement payments to the level they would have been had
she stayed until June 30, 2010.

The rest of Wright's salary now covers about half of Hammon's
roughly $90,000 annual wage.

Hammon says these shifts, along with about $40,000 in additional
cuts at the budget office, has saved one job in his agency that
otherwise would have been eliminated following Otter's
late-September budget cuts.

Otter approved the move through June, but Hammon says it's still
undecided if it will be permanent.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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