Oregon Public Broadcasting

If you have business with the state this week -- like getting your car through DMV or submitting a winning lottery ticket -- get it done sooner rather than later. Kristian Foden-Vencil explains.

Most state agencies will close Friday for the first of ten furlough days. Because of the recession, the legislature made deep cuts in agency budgets.

The governor’s spokeswoman, Anna Richter Taylor, says furloughs are one way to realize those cuts.

Anna Richter Taylor: “A furlough day is an unpaid leave of absence, so it amounts to a salary reduction. And it saves about $2 million a day so these 10 scheduled days will save about $20 million over the next two years.”

She says some state functions can be done over the internet on Friday, but most agencies will be closed.

A few, like the Military Department, the Dentistry Board and the State Police, are keeping their doors open.

The next furlough is on November 27th -- with the rest speckled between now and the spring of 2011.