In the summer of 2004, she lost her job as part of budget cuts that sliced through state government.

"It was really scary. . . . The idea of not going into work every morning, even more than the idea of not having that income, it was just like, 'What am I supposed to do?'" she said.

In the end, Gomoll, 55, started her own graphics design business and wrote a good ending for her story. But there's a cautionary side to her tale.

State job cuts at the DNR - some 271 positions over four years, or roughly 9 percent of the agency - and elsewhere have been handled mostly by not replacing workers who leave or retire. But unions fear more job cuts will lead to more stories like Gomoll's.

"Those cushions are gone," said Marty Beil, executive director of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, speaking of the state jobs already cut by attrition. "If this continues through the next budget . . . there will be real, live bodies going out now."

DNR budget director Joe Polasek said that Gov. Jim Doyle's instructions for the state's next two-year budget - which asks agencies to plan for a 10 percent cut to backroom administrative functions - would likely lead to more job cuts.

As for Gomoll, her business, Union Street Design, is thriving, and her clients include the DNR.

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