The state's financial crisis has forced the government to trim 5,861 jobs - or 7 percent of its payroll - in the past year-and-a-half, a Globe review shows. Agencies heavy with long-timers, such as mental health, revenue, highway, and welfare, gave up the most workers, largely because of an early retirement program in the spring.

And Governor-elect Mitt Romney, who is facing a projected budget short-fall of $2 billion next year, is likely to have to cut even more.

Officials at hard-hit agencies acknowledge that operations are being affected. Essential services are still being delivered, they say, but they are worried about the impact of further job losses.

''Those kinds of cuts don't come without impact,'' said Department of Mental Health spokeswoman Anna Chinappi.

''It's a cause of concern and a challenge,'' said Todd Maio, deputy commissioner at the Department of Transitional Assistance, the renamed welfare agency. Over the past 20 months, it has lost 538 positions, a quarter of its payroll. ''We're seeing upward pressure on our caseloads, and we're trying to respond while reducing our staffing levels,'' he said. The department has closed five of about 30 local offices and reduced the flow of paperwork, he said.

At the Department of Mental Health, down 544 positions, or 11 percent, ''No one's treatment will be interrupted,'' said Chinappi. ''Most of the positions are administrative, and the commissioner has made a commitment to look at every administrative efficiency first, before cutting direct care services.'' The department, however, is phasing out Medfield State Hospital and has shut down a partial hospitalization program in some community mental health centers, Chinappi said.

About 20 mostly small agencies, out of more than 150 across the bureaucracy, have boosted staffing during the downsizing, despite the tight fiscal times.

The Department of Youth Services has added 53 jobs, up to 879; the Department of Education is up 33 to 488; and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has grown from 44 to 60. State officials said DYS staffing is up to maintain security in juvenile facilities, education staffing increased under a federal grant for a new program, and the MCAD jump represents a transfer of contract workers to full employee status, as a result of a dispute with an employee union.

Since last October, the Swift admini-stration has imposed a hiring freeze, though there are exceptions to comply with court orders or maintain levels of direct care in human services agencies, said Ann Reale Collins, undersecretary of administration and finance. The Department of Social Services, a sensitive agency that deals with child welfare, lost 400 employees to early retirement and budget cuts, but has since restored 159 positions.

''At DSS, the cut was so deep that they had to restore some money because they were asking case workers to carry an unacceptably high load,'' said Widmer, of the Taxpayers Foundation. ''That's a 10 percent cut in an agency that's been under siege.''

-From the Boston Globe, 12/5/2002, by Brian C. Mooney.

12/2002