PITTSBURGH -- The clock is ticking down to the final paycheck for 77,000 state workers, while lawmakers continue to negotiate and Pennsylvania operates without an approved budget in place.

"Look, I don't want to see a payless payday," Gov. Ed Rendell told Channel 4 Action News on Friday in Altoona.

But that's what will happen if the budget impasse drags on long enough. David Bova, president of Fraternal Order of Police No. 47, called it "an unnecessary hardship on all state employees."

Related Link: Frequently Asked Questions About The Budget Impasse

Workers will not be furloughed, but they will receive only partial pay on July 17 and July 24, after which paychecks will be withheld entirely until the impasse is solved.

It doesn't just affect Bova's 4,400 fellow state police troopers, but also the PennDOT workers who pave roadways and probably the budgets at many schools, not to mention employees at the State Office Building in downtown Pittsburgh.

"It's a big deal for me because I live paycheck to paycheck," said Ken Ward, who works in the downtown welfare office. "It's not like I have money in the bank that I can go drop on. I live week by week."

"We canceled a vacation because you don't know when the next check's coming," said Bova. "If it goes until September, that's two whole months without a paycheck."

Rendell said 10 banks and credit unions have agreed to help state employees who may soon have payless paydays by giving them loans or lines of credit. They are Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, State Employees Credit Union, Americhoice Federal Credit Union, Members 1st Federal Credit Union, Oil Country Federal Credit Union, Fulton Bank, Lafayette Ambassador Bank, Swineford National Bank, FNB Bank N.A. and Orrstown Bank.

"Most of those state workers -- I've arranged for them to get a $15,000 loan with no interest, so if they're paying off $6,000 worth of credit debt at 14 percent, they should put a statue of me up on their mantel place," Rendell said.

However, people who don't have good credit scores could be out of luck if they try to get those particular loans.

"They're telling us to go get these loans and that. That's not fair to us," said Ward.

In an e-mail to ThePittsburghChannel.com, the wife of a state trooper wrote, "We have three small children, one who is only 12 weeks old and soon will not have food to put on our table or money to pay the bills and utilities. My husband's the breadwinner ... What do I use to buy groceries, formula and diapers?"

"It is disheartening to come and put your life on the line every day and not receive a paycheck, but we will get paid when the budget is passed," said Bova. "The morale inside hurts, but we're still going to do our jobs because we're professionals."

Pennsylvania ended its fiscal year June 30 with a revenue shortfall of nearly $3.3 billion. Rendell and Democratic allies in the Legislature are calling for a mixture of cuts and tax increases, while Republicans oppose raising taxes.

"We'll work as hard as we can, but this process has to evolve," Rendell said. "I'm not going to sign a budget that mortgages our future, and I'm not going to sign a budget that will have us back here next year."