Waiting for the shoe to fall....
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090128/NEWS10/901280376/1001/NEWSJanuary 28, 2009
State budget: Park rides, court cases and more face cuts
By JASON CLAYWORTH and JENNIFER JACOBS
jclayworth@dmreg.com
State budget cuts that Gov. Chet Culver will propose today could mean fewer inspections for amusement rides, delays in court cases and workers' compensation hearings, and longer grass and shorter hours in state parks, officials said Tuesday.
Culver will present his budget plan today for the fiscal year that begins July 1. He said Monday that he will call for a 6.5 percent cut to most state programs, or about $400 million total from a base of about $6 billion. He said he hopes to avoid cuts to certain programs, including public safety, workforce development, human services, disaster relief, the teacher quality program and early childhood education.
But nearly everything else is on the block. State officials were scrambling Tuesday to assess the potential impact of such a deep cut on top of the $180 million Culver has already trimmed from the current year's $6.2 billion budget. The governor said he expects service cuts and furloughs and layoffs for some of the state's employees. The state's budget this year provides for 53,107 employees, but some jobs have already been left vacant.