Late Thursday, Senate leaders said they believe they had reached an agreement, pending a final, all-night review of the numbers by staff.

"We are very, very close," said a bleary-eyed Senate President John Valentine. "We have an agreement with the governor, the House and the Senate."

Some cuts were simple snips, efficiencies or travel limits, but many were deeper slashes and could result in the elimination of scores of state jobs such as highway patrol troopers and prison guards, scaling back of mental health and substance abuse aid and painful reductions at the state's colleges and universities.

"This is a healthy process," said House Majority Leader David Clark, R-Santa Clara. "I think government will be better at the end of the day."

Utah's slowing economy brought about dips in revenues, forcing legislators into an emergency session to balance the budget.

"You should be proud your Legislature does not act like the federal government and try to just borrow money when you don't have the money to pay for things," said Valentine.

Legislators had proposed eliminating an $18 million tax break allowing small business owners to deduct the cost of health care. But Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. pushed back during an hourlong negotiating session and the tax cut was restored.

Beyond that, legislators are looking for ways to whack a total of $75 million from the budget - which amounts to a total of 3 percent of ongoing spending.

None of the cuts will come from public education - at least this year. Lawmakers took $75 million from schools, but replaced it with money that will disappear at the end of this fiscal year. Legislators will either need to find a long-term fix, or schools will have to cut budgets by that amount.

The Department of Health sustained one of the most severe cuts, particularly the Medicaid budget, which was chopped by a total of $33 million, forcing the elimination of programs providing vision care, physical therapy and speech and hearing.

The state's 10 institutions of higher learning may have to take a collective $50 million hit, with the flagship University of Utah absorbing $16 million of that.

Lawmakers want to prohibit tuition hikes to make up the reductions.

"The message is interesting," William Sederburg, commissioner of higher education, said. "The concern is, what is the value the citizens place on higher education?"

Lawmakers moved to eliminate the entire staff supporting the Governor's energy adviser, though Valentine said he believes that funding was restored. Huntsman has rankled some legislators by joining the Western Climate Initiative in pushing for expanded renewable energy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

About $11.7 million was carved out of the Department of Human Services, cuts that would force 55 residents to go back onto a waiting list for services. It would also limit the department's efforts to keep families together in cases where there have been allegations of abuse or neglect.

"I can't promise you won't see more kids in foster care," said Lisa-Michele Church, Human Services executive director.

The Utah Highway Patrol will be forced to eliminate 21 trooper spots, including positions dedicated to drunken driving enforcement, and the Department of Corrections will wipe out 44 jobs, most of them supervisory. All of those positions, however, are currently vacant.

The Attorney General's office will be paring back an outreach program designed to protect children from Internet predators, as well as an initiative to help members trying to escape polygamist enclaves. It will also lose a mortgage fraud prosecutor, a move the agency opposed because of the importance of having that position in light of the national mortgage crisis.

"It worries me tremendously if we don't have the ability to keep that position, that we are taking away a resource in an area that this country needs tremendously and this state needs," said Chief Deputy Attorney General Kirk Torgensen.

The Legislature is cutting its own budget by between 4 percent and 5 percent, including forgoing a $10 raise to their $120 salary for each day they have official meetings.

Legislators will return today to debate and vote on the budget cuts, most of which would take effect immediately.

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* CATHY McKITRICK, LISA ROSETTA, BRIAN MAFFLY, LISA SCHENCKER, JULIA LYONÂ and BRANDON LOOMIS contributed to this report.