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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Budget cuts mostly unseen, but still painful for residents

    Budget cuts mostly unseen, but still painful for residents

    by Mary Jo Pitzl -
    Jan. 10, 2010 12:00 AM
    The Arizona Republic .

    The Legislature returns to the Capitol on Monday to pick up where it left off three weeks ago: Tackling the state's budget deficit.

    No one is predicting an easy solution. After a marathon regular session last year, followed by three special sessions, the current-year budget is still $1.4 billion out of balance. Then there is the fiscal 2011 budget, which begins July 1; estimates of its deficit hover in the $3 billion range.

    To deal with the shortfall, lawmakers did almost everything but raise taxes. They swiped money in various state accounts, borrowed, delayed payments and made cuts that reduce the size of government. In all, their efforts add up to $7.7 billion in deficit reduction since spring 2008. Budget cuts account for $1.2 billion of that total. Yet many Arizonans are oblivious to what has been reduced.

    State officials say there is a reason for that: They nipped here, tucked there and tried to spare sweeping reductions that would gut entire programs.

    The cutbacks, while intangible to most, have not been painless. Many of them have landed on vulnerable populations, such as disabled children, home-bound seniors. The cuts took 78 percent of the K-12 dollars that aren't protected by voter mandates or federal requirements.

    But that is just a warm-up act. Deeper and more painful cuts are certain this year.

    To date, the belt tightening has been invisible to Lisa Corprew, a Phoenix mom who says her good job at the University of Phoenix means she doesn't need to turn to the state for help.

    "I haven't been impacted," she said. "I assume it's pork they've been cutting - I hope it is. We seem to be cruising along as usual. But again, I'm at the fortunate end of the scale."

    Thirteen barricaded highway rest stops are perhaps the most visible sign of the budget distress. Lawmakers say they have fielded numerous complaints since the stops were closed two months ago.

    But the cuts are playing out in other, and less visible, ways.

    • Ten percent of the state workforce was laid off, or 4,059 people.

    • Officials capped enrollment for KidsCare, which provides health care to children from low-income families. In closing the rolls, the state is forgoing a two-for-one federal match for future participants, but state officials say they can't afford the price of admission.

    • Although there are waiting lists for child health care and child-care assistance, if slots open, agencies won't fill them.

    • The state no longer provides financial help to hospitals for training doctors and serving low-income patients.

    Lawmakers and Gov. Jan Brewer warn the cuts are just a sample of what is ahead.

    "It's only the beginning, or should I say the middle," House Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said last month after lawmakers approved reductions that brought the total for this fiscal year to $455 million. To wipe out the current deficit, that figure needs to triple.

    Lawmakers could soften the blow by resorting to more one-time gimmicks or perhaps by approving the elusive sales-tax hike that Brewer has been seeking.

    Soon, residents will see more tangible evidence of government's shrinking footprint.

    The state parks are on life support. The parks board will decide this week on closures, which are driven by which sites lose money. It might be faster to list those that will remain open. Of the 28 parks, 19 lose money and four barely break even.

    The state will close 12 motor-vehicle offices; look for closures throughout rural Arizona, as well as one office in Phoenix.

    State employees could face pay cuts of up to 5 percent.

    Layoffs announced Thursday at the state Fire Marshal's Office reduce the 14-member staff to nine and mean no more investigations into fires at schools or county or state buildings. And it will take longer to get the final inspection needed before those new structures can open.

    Rep. Lucy Mason, R-Prescott, said the average person hears the state is out of money, but the message doesn't sink in until she lays out the looming consequences: Little or no state revenue to help pay for local police and fire services. More classroom cuts. An end to all-day kindergarten.

    She plans to introduce a bill this week to end all-day K, which she has supported and former Gov. Janet Napolitano championed.

    "We can't afford it," Mason said of the popular program. "That has to stop. . . . It's not that our hearts aren't in the right place."

    http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... s0110.html
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  2. #2
    Senior Member miguelina's Avatar
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    • Officials capped enrollment for KidsCare, which provides health care to children from low-income families. In closing the rolls, the state is forgoing a two-for-one federal match for future participants, but state officials say they can't afford the price of admission.
    How many children of US citizens are being left out because of anchor kid? Legal status of parents MUST be checked. If parents are illegal, their children, regardless of where born, must be taken out of the program!
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
    "

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