LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The Michigan State Police on Friday identified 48 posts across the state that will be affected by 100 trooper layoffs announced earlier this week.
But discussions continue about possible ways to avoid the layoffs that are scheduled for June 28. Within the state Legislature, the talks likely will broaden to more long-term state police budget issues such as the planned move to a new headquarters in downtown Lansing in January 2010.
Eighty-two troopers scheduled to be laid off next month were trained through a trooper school that graduated in December. Eighteen relatively low seniority troopers from a previous training class also will be laid off.
State police said Friday five troopers each will be laid off at posts in Ypsilanti and Flint. Other layoffs will be scattered across the state, although 16 posts will not be affected.
The layoffs were sparked by an executive order issued by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and approved by state lawmakers Tuesday. Overall, the order cuts about $349 million from state government spending while filling the rest of an estimated $1.3 billion budget hole for this fiscal year with money from the federal stimulus package.
The trooper layoffs would save about $1.7 million. But they have come under fire in a state that already has lost nearly 9 percent of its law enforcement personnel since 2002.
In recent years, the state spent at least $8 million training the officers who now are scheduled to be laid off. The layoff announcement also has rekindled debate about the scheduled move to a $40 million headquarters building that should finish construction by year's end. Some lawmakers are exploring whether the state could avoid occupying the building by not allocating the money to pay the rent.
The project has long been criticized by Republicans including Sen. Cameron Brown of St. Joseph County's Fawn River Township and Rep. Rick Jones of Grand Ledge.
Rep. Richard LeBlanc, a Democrat from Westland and chairman of a House appropriations subcommittee dealing with state police, now is seeking more information about lease agreements related to the new building. He's also exploring ways to possibly avoid the trooper layoffs within the current budget year.
The headquarters plan likely would not affect this year's budget or in itself prevent at least a short-term layoff of the troopers. But lease costs could become a part of the debate related to trooper staffing for the fiscal year that starts in October.
Lease payments are expected to be about $3.7 million a year once state police move into the new building. The lease for the current Michigan State Police headquarters in East Lansing costs the state $1 a year.
But supporters of a new headquarters say the old building requires costly repairs to remain useful.