By LLOYD DUNKELBERGER
H-T Capital Bureau

From their paychecks to their pensions to their very jobs, state workers have a lot to lose as the Legislature tries to resolve a $3 billion budget shortfall.

Myriad cost-cutting proposals aimed at state workers are being weighed by lawmakers. Cutting pay by 3 percent. Paying more for health insurance. Limiting retirement benefits. And for some workers the most ominous threat: losing their jobs. Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, who represents Leon County, which alone has more than 20,000 state workers, said he fears lawmakers are looking to balance the new state budget "on the backs of state workers."

"Workers out there are very nervous," Lawson said. "They work hard for the state. And it appears that when revenue is short, they want to dump it on them."

Significant savings can be realized, in part, from the sheer size of the state work force. Including university employees, the state has about 169,000 positions in its annual $66 billion budget. Most of the changes are aimed at about 127,000 workers who range from state agency heads to correctional officers to health care workers to court employees to child abuse investigators.

Yet while lawmakers look to wring savings from the work force, Florida already has a lean state payroll compared with other states. In 2008, the average state government had 216 workers per 10,000 population. Florida had 118 -- ranking it next to last in the nation, according to the annual survey by the state Department of Management Services. The average national payroll expenditures for state workers were $69 per resident, but only $38 in Florida.

But Florida is generous to state workers -- in some areas. More than 26,000 state employees -- including legislators and Gov. Charlie Crist -- get free health insurance. Some of those workers received free insurance in exchange for giving up job-protection rights under a management overhaul led by former Gov. Jeb Bush.

Employees who pay for their health coverage get bargain rates -- $50 a month for individuals or $180 for families. State workers do not contribute to their pensions -- with the state picking up the entire cost. Some workers in "special risk" or "senior management" categories accrue their pension benefits at higher rate than average workers. And their pension benefits are not capped -- meaning some, if they work long enough, can retire with their full paycheck.

Those benefits come as the cost to the state -- and ultimately taxpayers -- continues to rise for health care and pension payments.

Against that backdrop, legislative leaders say state workers, like all other state government entities, will have to bear some of the budget-cutting burden this year.

"Everything is on the table," said Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who is in line to become the next House speaker.

Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said while many of those proposals are under consideration, some of the impact may be mitigated if Florida receives an additional $1 billion in federal aid for Medicaid next year -- an event most state officials expect to happen.

But Alexander has also voiced support for some of the cost-cutting measures, including having all state employees pay for their health insurance.

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," he said. Lawson said it was unfair to look at making workers pay more for their health care and pensions given that they haven't had a raise in some four years. He also said the workers who gave up their job protections in exchange for free insurance should be considered.

"You're reneging on a promise," Lawson said. "They need to honor that."

As the House and Senate head for an April 1 floor vote on their budget bills, the most immediate threat to emerge for state workers is the House plan for a 3 percent pay cut for all workers, including Gov. Charlie Crist, who would lose nearly $4,000 in annual pay. State workers are in their fourth year without a pay increase.

The average pay for the bulk of state workers in 2008 was $38,517 -- down by $322 from a year earlier, according to the DMS survey.

Last year, lawmakers tried to cut 2 percent from the paychecks of state workers earning more than $45,000 a year. But Crist vetoed the measure. Layoffs could be possible for some employees.

The initial House budget bill gives agency heads the flexibility of offsetting the 3 percent pay cut by making other managerial moves, including laying off some workers. The Senate has considered eliminating more than 1,800 correctional officer positions -- which appear to be vacant.

But union officials, who represent the officers, say inevitably the elimination of "vacancies" often involves actual employees. The House has considered eliminating some 450 positions in community corrections operations. Lawmakers are looking at eliminating positions and curbing health and pension benefits because of the savings.

For instance, requiring all state workers to pay for their health insurance would save $46 million in the new budget, according to an analysis by Florida TaxWatch, a nonprofit government watchdog group. TaxWatch also said requiring new state employees to contribute 5 percent of their pay -- a rate common in other states -- to fund their pensions could save the state $245 million a year.

Reducing the accrual of pension benefits for some workers could save more than $200 million when fully implemented in the next few years. Others argue that the pension and health care benefits help offset the generally lower pay that most state workers receive, such as correctional officers who qualify for the higher pension accrual rate but start their jobs at about $28,000 a year.

George Sheldon, secretary of the Department of Children and Families, one of the state's largest agencies, said he hopes to avoid layoffs in this year's budget debate. He cited several examples where his employees have excelled.

He said some 4,000 workers were involved in turning around Florida's food stamp error rate from one of the worst in the country to one of the best, earning the state an additional $13.5 million.

Sheldon is urging lawmakers to give those workers a special one-time $500 bonus -- a move that Governor Crist supports. After the recent earthquake in Haiti, Sheldon's agency set up two special centers in the Orlando area and Miami to handle more than 20,000 American citizens living in Haiti who wanted to be repatriated.

"We had over 1,200 of our employees volunteering to do 12-hour shifts," Sheldon said. "Some of them did the 12-hour shifts and then went in and did their regular jobs."

Sheldon said the workers find motivation in their jobs beyond the pay and benefits. "Folks that take these jobs do it because they love it," he said. "There is a certain satisfaction that they get out of it."

H-T Capital Bureau correspondent Gary Fineout contributed to this report.

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