Governor Says Buyout Offer Could’ve Been Better

With the state’s voluntary buyout deadline looming and not enough employees willing to take the deal, Governor Bredesen says looking back, the state could’ve done more.

“If I knew in May what I know now, I might have sweetened it up some or something like that from where it was. But we set on a path that I think was very carefully considered, we brought in consultants to help us design the thing. We probably didn’t make it quite strong enough to get the numbers we need, so fine, we’ll adjust – We’ll figure out how to get this thing done.”

The buyout was offered to 12,000 state employees, in hopes that 2,300 would sign up for it. Earlier this week, the Governor said the buyout offer has attracted only 1,400. The deadline for eligible employees to accept the buyout is August 5th.

Daniel Potter contributed to this report.