GA General Assemly Furloughs

So the House and Senate of the Georgia General Assembly are taking furloughs due to the budget deficit, and hence, the employees of the Office of Legislative Counsel are being required to also take a mandatory one-day-a-month furlough. They’re having a meeting about it to answer questions and whatnot this afternoon at the capitol, but today happens to be my 4×10 day off. Debated whether to go in for the meeting, but I figure it’s not worth the time and gas. I’ll get the lowdown from my co-editors tomorrow.

All in all, it could be worse. A day a month is better than a day a week—which some state employees have had to do—and it’s hella better than being laid off. But the line between black and red for our household budget is sliver-thin, and it’s gonna be hard finding another notch in our already-cutting-off-circulation belt.

The thing is, this is another hard knock exacted by the state in a string of them. They’re also increasing our parking fees from $15 to $40 per month, and as a result, I’m relinquishing my parking spot. I only used it occasionally, during the legislative session and for the occasional doctor’s appointment or when I overslept and needed to drive in to avoid being late—not enough to merit $480 a year—but it was pretty important to have during session. Going to have to figure out how to manage now without a parking space. And they also decreased our health care options, so I’m going to have to switch from my current plan next year. Very annoying as it means I’ll be losing the rheumatologist I adore who pulled me out of a months-long flare-up and has kept me stable for years.

I still love my day job. After spending 11 years as a highly paid but soul-battered cubicle monkey, money is low on my priority list for job satisfaction. And I still have incredible job satisfaction, enough to outweigh the annoying sensation of being reamed. But I really would prefer to forgo the reaming.