Governor details $239 million in budget cuts

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt is trimming more fat from state operations in an effort to balance the $19.1 billion fiscal year 2006 budget.
On March 24, Blunt proposed $239 million in budget cuts on top of the $1.1 billion in state and federal funds reductions he announced shortly after taking office.
Blunt’s proposal increases his previously recommended permanent reductions to state general revenue to $601 million. The proposed cuts do not reduce funding for public schools or increase taxes.
“Our state continues to suffer from past poor spending decisions and anemic general revenue growth,” Blunt said in a news release. “The actions I am taking today … compliment the priorities of mainstream Missourians to increase funding for our classrooms, hold the line on job-killing taxes and to ask state government to do more with less before we ask taxpayers to do more with less.”
The newly announced reductions will result in the elimination of 1,274 full-time, state-funded positions in addition to the 1,456 job cuts called for in the initial budget. To increase funds available for FY 2006, many of these program reductions and job cuts will be implemented in the next 30 days.
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