State budget year begins with cuts

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 1, 2009 - Page: 1A

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The new state fiscal year starts today with far less drastic budget cuts than Gov. Bobby Jindal originally proposed.

Widespread layoffs are no longer as likely on public college campuses. Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville should remain open seven days a week. Food bank shelves should not be completely bare.

But late Tuesday Jindal used his line-item veto to cross $3 million out of $34 million for projects in legislators’ districts.

Locally, Jindal refused $150,000 for the Louisiana Art and Science Museum in downtown Baton Rouge.

He also vetoed funding for several festivals, a library summer movie program in Beauregard Parish, a boat launch, a few Girl Scouts organizations and some senior citizen programs. Jindal stated in his veto message that the projects did not meet his criteria for spending taxpayer dollars on “member amendments.” But he did leave alone $31 million of the legislators’ projects.

Even with last-minute additions by the Legislature and more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money, the $28 billion operating budget for 2009-2010 fiscal year still contains significantly less spending than last year’s $30.1 billion budget. Higher education institutions, health care programs and other state services received less money. About 1,200 state government jobs were eliminated, though most were vacant and few people went unemployed.

In the final hours of the legislative session that ended last week, lawmakers decreased the reductions to many areas of the budget by tapping into the state’s “rainy day fund” and drawing on other revenue sources.

LSU Chancellor Michael Martin said he is grateful the Legislature allowed colleges to avoid the “worst-case scenario,” despite the large cuts that remain.

State Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said lawmakers reduced the cuts to his agency by about $4 million.

“We did as good as we could have under the circumstances,” Strain said. “We are all going to have to tighten our belts up.”

Pam Breaux, secretary of the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, said her agency still is facing substantial cuts.

“Within two weeks, we’ll have all of the plans in place to move forward with organizational strategies that limit the public impact of these cuts,” Breaux said Tuesday.

Natalie Jayroe with Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana said, “We’re trying to scramble and figure out how we’re going to meet the needs.”