BUDGET CUTS ARE RESPONSIBLE, BUT NOT ALWAYS POPULAR, GOVERNOR SAYS

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Tough choices were made when weighing how to cut $231.6 million out of the state’s budget, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said on Thursday, June 18 at a meeting of the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Interim Committee.

“Everyone comes in and says, ‘Governor, we support belt tightening, but mine is already too tight - tighten the other guy’s belt,’" he said. "What we tried to do is to recognize that this is a problem that we all have to share in. We’ve all shared in the benefits of increased funding over the last few years and we’re all going to share in the decline of funding going forward.”

The Governor said the cuts will mean some uncomfortable reductions in programs that Wyoming lawmakers and communities care deeply about.

“Individual legislators have been kind enough to share with me their perspectives about how I shouldn’t have cut the programs that they have worked many, many years to put in place, and I appreciate that because people work hard, and they believe in these things or they wouldn’t be doing them.”

The state faces three years of difficult budgets, he said, and said unlike the federal government, Wyoming can’t print money nor can it spend more that its budget will allow.

The Governor also called attention to California, which borrowed money based on overly optimistic revenue projections and now finds itself more than $24 billion in debt.

“Our other choice is to say that we’re going to rearrange things, and we’re going to ignore the future and we’re simply going to keep the status quo for another year. Which is entirely fiscally possible, but I think it’s irresponsible," he said. "I think if we take the longer time frame, gliding into this is far better than saying, ‘We’ve got a way to move the walnuts around and everything is going to be just fine.’ Because then the drop is much more severe when you get to it later.”

The Governor’s budget is available on the Governor’s Web site, governor.wy.gov, or the state Budget Division Web site:  ai.state.wy.us/budget.

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