About 2,000 state employees have applied for voluntary buyout packages under a plan to reduce Tennessee’s state work force by 5 percent. Buyouts were offered to about 12,000 state employees with hopes of eliminating nearly 2,300 jobs. Applications for the buyouts had to be postmarked by Tuesday. Gov. Phil Bredesen says officials won’t know until Aug. 11 how many buyouts will be approved. The Democratic governor says he hopes state employees aren’t holding out for a more lucrative buyout proposal in the future because the more likely next step will be mandatory layoffs to meet a goal of $64 million in annual payroll savings.Bredesen says he cited the buyouts in meetings with bond rating agencies in New York this week as an example fiscal responsibility during tough economic times.