University staff will not be forced to take a salary cut because of budget changes just yet.The University’s proposed furlough plan is indefinitely on hold, Chancellor Michael Martin announced Aug. 13 in a campus e-mail. The plan was going to be presented to the LSU Board of Supervisors on Aug. 27. A furlough is required, unpaid time off, and an employee’s salary is reduced by the amount of time they are furloughed.The University constructed its furlough plan as a way of avoiding layoffs after having to cut about $20 million from its operating budget in July because of a $1.3 billion drop in state revenue and the national recession. The plan would have affected more than 1,000 civil service and professional staff members, cutting their salaries by an average of 3 percent. But Gov. Bobby Jindal is enforcing a state hiring freeze for vacant positions to combat statewide budget cuts. Institutions will be able to keep the state dollars set aside for the University’s vacant positions, Martin said. That, along with limiting pay increases for all LSU System employees this year, means there is no need for furloughs at this time.”I would be remiss if I did not caution you that the possibility for furloughs at some point in the future does still exist, although we hope to avoid that option if at all possible,” Martin said in the e-mail. “But, should further budget reductions occur, the University may have to reconsider the use of the furlough to achieve those outcomes.”Staff Senate President Chad Gothreaux said he was happy to hear about the postponement of the furlough plan but didn’t rule out the possibility of one in the future. “I choose to remain cautiously optimistic that the University’s budget situation over the course of the current fiscal year will not worsen to the point that staff furloughs will once again be put on the table,” Gothreaux said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille. The University eliminated 24 jobs this summer because of    budget cuts and has slashed funding for programs like the LSU Museum of Art and LSU Press.The effect of the cuts — once projected to set the University back decades — has dwindled to a point where impact on students will be minimal. But Martin continues to stress the importance of planning for the next two years, when budget reductions could be worse. Furloughs are not totally ruled out, he said.- – – -Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]