Gov.'s plans whack jobs,
$400 million

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Gov. Bill Richardson delivered a simple message today to anyone who gets money from the state: get ready to cut.

Right now the view from the governor's office is the state is facing a shortfall of $454 million for the coming budget year although almost every lawmaker expects that number to climb.

Today Richardson outlined his proposed budget and said there will be no new taxes. That means there will be cuts, and Richardson said all state agencies have been told to trim their operating budgets.

In terms of pure dollars, state colleges and public schools will be hardest hit. The governor also proposes speeding up some tax collections and dipping into state reserves for $119 million.

When it comes to public safety the governor said he is minimizing cuts to law enforcement agencies by allowing them to reduce their work forces through attrition.

"Rather than imposing a flat reduction, which I think would hurt public safety programs, take police officers off the street, so we've gone case-by-case in agency, 2-5 percent," Richardson said.

The real battle over the budget is shaping up to be over public education as public school districts could have their budgets trimmed by $150 million over the next two years.

The legislative session begins Jan. 20 with the governor's State of the State address.

Separately the governor has proposed a combination of cuts, increased tax collections and recouping unspent money from capital projects to cover a projected $0.5 billion shortfall in the current budget year ending June 30.

Between the current and coming budget years, the cuts to agency budgets total $398 million, according to figures provided by the governor's office.