Operative budget word: cut

Hard times have come to Utah state government.

Thursday, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. recommended a budget for the next fiscal year that is $1.1 billion less than his spending plan of just a year ago.

The $10.6 billion budget represents a 4.2 percent drop in spending for the budget year that begins July 1, 2009. Huntsman does not propose any tax increases, but he does want to boost motor vehicle registration fees by as much as $22 a vehicle to help secure bonding for state transportation projects.

The governor scrapped — at least for now — the suggestion that the gas tax be shifted from a flat 24.5 cents a gallon to a percentage of the sales price but said he'd be supportive of a similar proposal from lawmakers this session.

His budget does not include pay raises for state employees or teachers and Huntsman acknowledged that come the start of the new budget year, some state workers will be out of a job. Just how many, he said, remains to be seen.

All state agencies are being asked to cut 7 percent from their budgets, although some of that money would be restored in areas deemed critical, including human services and education.

But even education, traditionally a top budget priority for the governor and lawmakers, would end up with up to a 4 percent spending reduction next budget year under Huntsman's recommendations.

The governor said the budget is the best the state can hope for in tough economic times.

"I wish we had a gold-plated budget to present — no such luck today," Huntsman said, standing in the lavishly renovated Gold Room outside his office. "This is all we can do," he said, calling his budget "prudent and balanced."

The governor said Utah is better off than many other states and focused on his intent to fully fund $62 million in public school enrollment growth as well what he described as an "economic kick-start package" that would save some 20,000 jobs paying $600 million in wages.

That plan, praised at the press conference by Salt Lake Chamber president Lane Beattie, would use the increase in motor vehicle registration fees to bond for $2.5 billion in transportation projects as well as start work on buildings funded by donations, including those on college campuses. Another $5 million would go toward helping Utahns buy some of the 4,000 homes on the market.

And the governor said he was confident a federal economic stimulus package proposed by President-elect Barack Obama would come through and boost the amount available for infrastructure projects as well as for human services needs such as Medicaid.

While next year's budget is bad, more spending cuts must be made to this year's budget, too.