MORE JOBS, SERVICES ON CHOPPING BLOCK

Owens Outlines Plan For Latest Round Of State Budget Cuts

An estimated 140 Colorado state government workers will lose their jobs,
and four more driver's license offices will be shut down in a new wave of
budget cutbacks announced Thursday by Gov.Bill Owens.

Coloradans also will find it tougher to get new license plates for their
cars, some mental health services will be cut back and the bulk of 730
vacant state jobs will go unfilled as the state continues to struggle to
save money.

The changes are the result of a new 6 percent cut that Owens ordered last
month for most state agencies in the wake of more bad news that revenues
were continuing to plunge.

Owens exempted the state's prison system for safety reasons and also
granted an exemption for K-12 education. The agency that oversees Medicaid
was told it needed only a 3 percent cut.

What the new cuts actually mean was outlined for the first time Thursday by
Nancy McCallin, the governor's chief budget officer.

"We have a constitutional duty to balance the budget - it's not an option
to the state," McCallin said. "It was out of balance $550 million the day
it was passed. We can't spend money we don't have."

The latest cutbacks were on top of a 4 percent savings the governor ordered
last May when he also halted new construction and vetoed parts of a $13.8
billion budget that legislators sent him. Those actions - which included
the planned closing of 21 driver's license offices - reduced spending by
$220 million.

The new cuts, along with other proposals suggested by the governor,
including delaying the pay date of state employees by one day to reduce
spending in the 2002-03 fiscal year, are expected to save an additional
$478 million if approved by the legislature.

Even those cuts might not be enough with revenues slipping by $70 million
to $90 million in the first five months of the current fiscal year.

The additional layoffs announced Thursday on top of the 50 from May
cutbacks mean an estimated 200 of the state's 47,000 government workers
will lose their jobs. The figures do not include the state's colleges and
universities.

McCallin said Colorado was far better off than many other states, such as
California, which are threatening to release workers by the thousands.

Jo Romero, president of the Colorado Federation of Public Employees, which
represents 1,500 municipal and state workers, had a mixed reaction."We're
glad to hear there weren't 3,000 layoffs like in Connecticut," she said.
"But it's still bad news for a lot of state employees coming just before
Christmas."

The 6 percent reductions by state agencies within the executive branch are
expected to save the state an additional $129 million. That includes $47.9
million from higher education, where each institution will decide how best
to make cuts.

Other cuts outlined by McCallin included mental health services within the
Colorado Department of Human Services, which is trimming more than $36
million overall.

Mental health took hits of about $6 million and lost seven beds during the
first round of cuts, and is proposing an additional $1 million in
administrative savings and the potential layoff of about 12 workers.

Also on the chopping block are 32 beds for mental health patients and the
elimination of the aftercare program at Fort Logan, which will lay off an
additional 12 employees and displace 52 clients using the service.

Laurel Schultz, spokeswoman for the Mental Health Association of Colorado,
found those cuts disappointing."Our stance is that funding for these
services needs to be a priority," Schultz said. "People who aren't getting
services up front are going to end up in other parts of the system, like
corrections or the hospitals."

Cuts in other agencies included $677,217 in the small Department of
Agriculture, which will lose three workers and cut back grants for the
noxious weed program; $1.6 million in education, primarily in grant money
given to high-achieving schools; and $1.2 million in the governor's office,
with the Office of Economic Development losing up to five workers.

There also were $26.8 million in savings in Medicaid, with much of that in
money that would have gone to hospitals and HMOs. But Medicaid clients
requiring more than eight prescriptions per month will now need the
approval of both their doctor and a department pharmacist.

Military and Veterans Affairs will save nearly $300,000, in part by
lowering tuition help for National Guard members. The Health Department
will save$1.4 million, partly by cutting money for public health nurses and
environmental health specialists.

And Public Safety plans to cut spending by nearly $3.6 million by
reducing rates paid to community corrections providers and reducing
community corrections beds. The Revenue Department expects to save more
than $2.3 million, in part by closing driver's license offices and
restricting new license plates.

Lawmakers who got the governor's cutbacks late in the day were scrambling
to try to understand the impact.

"Democrats will vote to protect services that most impact people's lives,"
said Senate Assistant Minority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver.

Senate President-elect John Andrews, R-Centennial, gave the governor high
marks but stopped short of promising that everything would win legislative
approval.

"Belt-tightening is never fun but it's healthy," Andrews said.