(Host) Most agencies and departments of state government have been asked to prepare plans for reducing their budgets by eight percent.
The Douglas administration describes the cuts as “targets” designed to reduce state spending by about $65 million.
The Finance Department will evaluate how the reductions would affect individual programs and then decide whether to recommend the cuts to the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office.
Finance Commissioner Jim Reardon says whatever recommendations are made will be painful for state government.
(Reardon) “This will be a difficult exercise. It’s significant and it will have an effect on programs and services, no doubt about that.”
(Host) Agencies have been ordered to develop their targets by the end of the week.
The administration will make its final recommendations to the Joint Fiscal Committee on December 17th.