In what 'ballpark' did the crunchers of numbers play?

Foster's editorial page wants to know why the Governor is laying off 250 state workers, when he insisted that he'd have to fire 750 if the state contract was rejected.

Linda Hodgdon, the commissioner of Administrative Services, has been reported as saying initial projections were made without knowing whether employees would be willing to retire, what the potential was for moving employees paid from general fund monies and the effect of laying off "higher cost" employees.

If there were so many unknowns, so many questionable elements, why so much talk of laying off 750 employees?

"It was absolutely not a negotiating tactic," Hodgdon was quoted as saying last week. "It was a ballpark estimate" of employees earning about around $50,000 in salaries and benefits.

Now the situation stands at laying off 250 employees, demoting another 50 or 60 and not filling some 60 vacancies. Assumedly, some of the higher-paid employees will feel the cuts.

Apparently, the ballpark's fences were pulled in so the administration could hit more home runs with the loss of fewer players.