North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue announced on Tuesday that state agencies will need to prepare plans for possible upcoming layoffs. However, she did say she didn’t think they would be necessary.

“I want everybody to be prepared,” the governor said to reporters after a meeting with members of the Council of State. “I do not anticipate [reductions in force] or layoffs or even four-day work weeks. But I think it does us all justice to be prepared as the economy softens. This is not a paper exercise we are about. Tough decisions are going to be made.”

Perdue ordered spending cuts up to 7 percent in order to close the gap on an estimated $2 billion deficit for the budget year ending in June. Three weeks ago, the governor claimed that these cuts probably result in layoffs within some agencies.

“Everybody needs contingency plans,” said House Speaker Joe Hacknet, a Democrat from Orange County.

Another Democrat, Senate leader Marc Basnight, said, “She has to balance the budget, and if it requires layoffs, they should occur.”

Perdue asked for recommendations from state agencies on how the state could accomplish a 7 percent budget cut.

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