NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- State employees got more information about a proposed buyout plan expected to save nearly $64 million amid a shortfall in the upcoming budget year that's approaching a half-billion dollars.

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Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz gave more details about the plan on Friday.

Channel 4’s Cara Kumari reported that the state is going to offer buyouts to 11,700 state employees in order to get the 2,000 for the buyouts. If more than 2,000 take the option, buyouts will be granted based on seniority.

Goetz did not give a breakdown of where the 11,700 offers will come from. He said lawyers have the package details right now to make sure the details are OK, Kumari reported.

The state will offer packages worth between $23,000 and $47,000, depending on a worker's length of employment, with cash incentives, 18 months of health insurance benefits and two years of tuition to a state community college or university.

The 11,700 people will get a package in the mail. The package will include a cover letter, the specific buyout numbers for that person and a list of people in the same job category who are being offered the buyout, along with a list of people who aren't being offered the package.

The offers are set to go out the third week of June. A previous plan had called for the offers to go out June 6.

"This is a very complex process," Goetz said. "So in order to make sure that we're going to do it right, it requires significant legal review and quality control. To do that, we've had to delay slightly when the information will go out to employees."

State employees will have until August to decide whether or not to accept the plan.

They will find out whether or not they will get a buyout package starting on Aug. 11, and those who get a buyout will sign a waiver and leave their jobs on Aug. 15.

Goetz said a Web site, call center and special e-mail address will be set up to provide information and field questions from workers. Administration officials will also host a series of town hall meetings across the state.

"We will be doing all we can to communicate and explain what will be a fairly complex set of documents," he said.

Administration officials have said workers near retirement and those with less than 10 years of service are the ones most likely to take the buyout. The goal is to reduce the state work force by 5 percent, but layoffs will begin in January if enough workers don't accept the package.

Goetz said he's confident the state will reach its goal.

"We have modeled it as much as we know how," he said. "We have brought in experts in legal and human resources areas to work with us, to give us a sense of if we're going to hit the mark, and they all do."

Gov. Phil Bredesen is cutting $468 million from the spending plan that begins July 1 because revenue collections are projected to fall far below expectations.

The cuts to the state's work force represent less than half of the growth in state employees since Bredesen took office in 2003.

The state employed 41,990 full-time workers in 2003. Since then that number has grown by 5,089 workers, or about 12 percent.

For the most part, the voluntary buyouts have drawn the support of the Tennessee State Employees Association and lawmakers.

"The governor is doing everything possible to make government smaller in way that makes sense both for the employee and for the taxpayer," said Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga.