Less than 24 hours after holding a news conference to celebrate how employees had saved co-workers' jobs by taking furloughs, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti announced much more quietly that the furloughs were off.

The cancellation of the furloughs -- after BSO asked employees to quickly decide whether to take them -- has left union officials scratching their heads.

``I'm really kind of confused as to what is going on over there,'' said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hanrahan.

Under the gun from county officials to cut spending, Lamberti in May released a proposed budget that included pink slips for 177 workers by the end of July.

Earlier this month, he announced that if enough law enforcement and jail employees agreed to take furloughs by Sept. 11, they could save colleagues who otherwise would be out of a job.

At a 5 p.m. news conference Thursday, Lamberti said employees had done just that -- agreeing, collectively, to take thousands of hours of unpaid leave. The conference came hours after County Administrator Bertha Henry released her budget proposal that included five-day furloughs for county workers and a call again from county officials for Lamberti to cut spending.

Lamberti fired back.

``Some people said I've shown poor management and leadership here at the Broward Sheriff's Office,'' Lamberti told the crowd of TV cameras. ``We're here to talk about that. I think the contrary is true.''

Then, barely 24 hours later, Lamberti sent an e-mail to employees: ``The furlough days donated will be held in abeyance for now, and you will be advised in future correspondence of the disposition of those days,'' he wrote.

He said he would still lay off 10 civilian workers.

So what changed?

BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal said the agency determined it didn't need the furlough hours, at least not yet.

``At this point we are not processing the furloughs,'' Leljedal said Tuesday. ``The latest projection that we have in terms of the budget is that we will be able to squeak by without using the furloughs.''

Dan Reynolds, president of the Federation of Public Employees, which represents detention workers, said union officials scurried to comply with the furlough requests only to be told they weren't happening.

``It was kind of slapdash to begin with,'' Reynolds said. ``We agreed to it, we did it and now he says we don't need it. I don't have an explanation for it. . . . I don't know what has transpired since we agreed to go to voluntary furloughs that made it unnecessary.''

The 10 civilian workers are still being laid off because they aren't needed, Leljedal said.

Lamberti said last week that besides the furloughs, BSO had achieved other savings by reining in overtime and receiving federal grants.

The sheriff did not reply to interview requests.

But even before the turnaround, Lamberti warned that any furlough cost savings were a Band-Aid to a larger problem -- he said if he couldn't reach an agreement with county commissioners about budget cuts by Oct. 1, hundreds of workers could lose their jobs.

Lamberti has been tussling with county officials for months. Broward County faces a shortfall of about $100 million, and commissioners argue that Lamberti should take a proportionate cut, about $46 million.

Commissioners say Lamberti backed himself into a corner by agreeing to raises of up to 12 percent last year while seeking the PBA's campaign endorsement.

Lamberti has argued that not all county services are equal and that he can't cut without hurting public safety.

Some other local governments have proposed budgets that avoid steep cuts to police -- in Miami-Dade for example, those workers have to take a pay cut, but they aren't on the layoff list.

Lamberti says the county should dip into reserves -- the county has in excess of $100 million -- to balance the books.

Commissioners will next meet in August to discuss the budget.

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