HONOLULU -- State negotiators walked out of a meeting Monday afternoon because they said union representatives did not want to discuss issues on the record.

At issue is the fate of at least 2,500 state workers. The governor is mulling whether to lay them off or find another way to ease the state's budget crunch.

Negotiators for the state, counties and unions met at 2 p.m. at Honolulu Hale to discuss the budget situation. Members of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, Hawaii State Teachers Association, United Public Workers and University of Hawaii Professional Assembly sent their top leaders.

The governor's representative, Human Resources Director Marie Laderta, left after 20 minutes. She said the state is ready and willing to negotiate on the record at anytime.

Gov. Linda Lingle's plan for furloughs for more than 15,000 state workers was ruled unconstitutional Thursday in state court, forcing her to find other ways to save money.

Afterward, union leaders through a federal mediator tried to schedule a bargaining session with the governor. A tentative meeting is planned for Monday afternoon.

Lingle said she would continue to talk to the unions while she searched for more money to cut $730 million from the state's budget. Lingle said she does not want to come to the table unless the unions present a formal plan.

Lingle said she began meeting with department heads Monday and will do so again on Tuesday.

"Each one of them has submitted to me a plan for their department to eliminate vacancies, eliminate other spending or contracts and in some cases, positions," Lingle said.

State negotiators will insist on on-the-record negotiations, not informal talks Lingle said the unions are seeking.

"I feel that they're taken out of context. I feel they are misrepresented and the public is told that I haven't been negotiating, and they say that because it's been off the record and informal," Lingle said. "I want to say to them 'if you're serious, then put a proposal on the record. Why wouldn't you? Your contracts have expired. You need to move forward for your members.'"

The governor said that everything is on the table.

"Furloughs are not out of the question, pay reductions are not out of the question, but neither are reductions in programs," she said.

Lingle previously said that if the courts blocked her attempts to furlough state workers to balance the state budget, she would start laying off workers.

However, without a contract now in place, workers are without the protection of a 90-day notice of a layoff. Lingle said she hopes she will not to have to layoff employees.

"I hope we're able to get a contract that results in a shared sacrifice. It allows us to maintain public services at the highest possible level without laying people off. That's been my goal all along, and hopefully that's where we end up," Lingle said.

While Lingle hopes she layoffs will not be necessary, she said that the state should know by the end of the week how many layoffs are needed to make up the nearly $700 million budget deficit.