Creative Finance

So, you may have heard that the governor furloughed all state employees on December 26 and Jan 2. Now, let's not even talk about the lack of notification for sufficient planning for those dedicated employees like myself and my sister who always are scrambling to use or lose leave time at the end of the year. But today we received a memo from our personnel director. It seems the governor has declared that we were not furloughed on the above mentioned dates, but were given paid administrative leave for those two days AND our salaries are reduced from now through June 30 by an amount equal to the pay we earned for the two days that we did not work. Now call me stupid, but if our salaries are reduced by an amount equal to two days' pay, how is it that we received PAID administrative leave? ONLY in government!
OH, and don't ask about the other furlough days that must be taken before June 30. We REALLY will NOT be paid for those, BUT that does NOT constitute a salary reduction. Gee, I thought that the definition of salary is equal payments of money over time. If I receive less money than I have been receiving for a period of time, that is NOT salary reduction? Math was never my thing, nor am I particularly adept at things financial. However, I have never had a problem with mathmatical concepts like greater than or less than, especially regarding money. Give me a break! Of course there will be no cost of living increases either this year while the recovery of the economy will increase the price of everything. This is one HUGE disadvantage of government work. The purchasing power of Maryland state employees is among the top tier for erosion over time. Maryland has some of the highest taxes in the country and some of the lowest paid (proportionate to taxes) state employees in the country. I love it!