NASHVILLE — Gov. Phil Bredesen today said that with two weeks left to go, only 1,400 of 12,000 eligible state employees have signed up for a voluntary buyout program, increasing the possibility of officials having to begin firing workers next year.

“It is not going as well as I had hoped,” Gov. Bredesen said. “We had at the end of last week about 1,400 people who had taken it. That’s not enough.”

He noted that, in some instances, the state is getting too many applications from certain employment areas targeted for reductions. As a result, that really leaves only about 1,100 or 1,200 applications that the state can actually accept, Gov. Bredesen said.

“We need to have more than that or we would have to seriously consider some form of layoff later on in the year,” Gov. Bredesen said.

The administration originally said it needed to reduce employment by 2,011 to save $64 million in order to trim $468 million from the budget that began July 1. The number of necessary employees then ballooned to almost 2,300. The governor cited a 2,200 figure today.

Gov. Bredesen said he was surprised that not more employees have signed up. But he said the uncertain economy may be leading some not to take the offer, which includes a cash payment and other payments based on years of service. The state is expecting to spend about $50 million in one-time revenues on the program.

The governor appeared gloomy over the prospects of hitting the Aug. 5 deadline for employees to say whether they will accept the voluntary buyout.

“We’re halfway there with two weeks to go. I’d be very surprised if we got all the way there by the end of this time,” Gov. Bredesen said.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press

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