It’s About Time

The Pennsylvania government has finally come to terms on a budget, allowing employees to go back to work. Previously, Governor Ed Rendell and state lawmakers had been unable to come together on a budget and as of Sunday night all non-essential public employees were on unpaid furlough until a budget was signed.

With 24,000 employees out of work, the governor made a move that angered many by rating the casino regulators as “essential” employees so that the state’s slot machines could continue to run while they were hashing things out. Many state employees who considered their jobs more essential than the slot machines were angered that they were put last.

However, all was not lost as the governor and the state signed a budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year sending all of those employees back to work on Monday, and thus ensuring that the casinos got to stay open as well.

The order that came from a Commonwealth Court judge in Harrisburg that kept the casinos open and the slot machines running was only a temporary restraining order and thus if the budget had not been signed, eventually officials say the casinos would have had to close as well.



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