The state has laid off 71 employees since lawmakers first started cutting the budget last fall, a report released Tuesday shows.

But the worst should be over, according to Jeff Herring, head of the Utah Department of Human Resource Management that produced the report at the request of the Deseret News.

"There still may be a few here and there," Herring said. "Unless things change with the budget, I think we've seen the bulk of them."

The Utah Public Employees Association, however, isn't so sure.

"The bottom line is we just don't know," said Todd Sutton, an employee representative with UPEA. "Employees are still worried their jobs are on the line."

The layoffs have taken a toll on employee morale, even though they represent a small percentage of the state's nearly 23,000 workers.

"It's always hard when you go through something like this," said Health Department spokesman Tom Hudachko. "There's always the assumption that if you work for the state, your job is generally safe."

But 12 of the nearly 1,000 Health Department employees have been laid off since April. Hudachko said most came from a division responsible for checking up on nursing homes. "It's significant to lose people like that," he said, noting the state won't be able to visit nursing homes as often as in the past.

Human Services was the hardest-hit department, losing 20 of some 5,000 jobs to layoffs. Human Services spokeswoman Elizabeth Sollis said there's been an effect on morale.

"Definitely, a lot of employees have had some concern and probably there's been some fear," Sollis said. "It's a process that hasn't been easy, obviously, for anyone."

The Utah National Guard had to lay off 19 state employees who held civilian security jobs because of cutbacks in federal funding, Lt. Col. Hank McIntire said. However, he said 13 were rehired when security was turned over to a private contractor.

All of the 71 employees laid off came from the executive branch. They were among the more than 16,000 merit employees subject to the state's reduction-in-force procedure.

The list of jobs cut due to declining state revenues dates back to Oct. 1 of last year. That's because lawmakers met in special session in September to slice 3 percent from the budget.

That $272 million cut wasn't the last. As the economy continued it's downward spiral, the 2009 Legislature ended up chopping another $355 million from the budget that ended June 30.

In the new budget year, which began July 1, the state will spend about 9 percent less. Current-year budget cuts would have been much larger without the more than half a billion dollars Utah received in federal stimulus funds.

At this point, lawmakers expect to be able to wait until the 2010 Legislature convenes next January before considering any additional budget cuts. Of course, lawmakers will have to put together a new budget that will take effect mid-2010, likely without federal help.

That could mean more layoffs. Before the stimulus dollars surfaced, there was talk that hundreds, if not thousands, of state employees could lose their jobs.

"Our worry is that what really saved the state this year was the federal stimulus money," Sutton said. "Once that runs out, whatever decisions they don't make this year, they'll have to make next year."

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