Governor Carcieri’s cost-cutting plan has sliced only 61 jobs off the state payroll thus far, but among them was the position of Josephine DiRuzzo, who is the president pro tempore of the all-Democrat Providence City Council.

DiRuzzo’s state job, as an employment and training administrator for the Labor Standards Unit of the Department of Labor and Training, was eliminated when Carcieri put out his call to cut 1,000 jobs out of the state budget.

Because of her seniority, she could have moved to a new position, but DiRuzzo, 70, said Thursday that she has decided to retire instead.

“I could have gone to another position, but I didn’t want to start a new job,” said DiRuzzo, who has been a state employee for 35 years.

DiRuzzo, the official second-in-command on the Providence City Council, said she can now devote all of her time to her council duties.