It is, perhaps, the unlucky 7.
But details of potential impacts of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s proposed 7 percent budget cuts for the next budget year are taking shape, and they will be significant.
They include: eliminating a worker training program; raising the bar for poor and pregnant mothers to get medical care; cutting sex offender and substance abuse treatment; reducing dental and medical benefits for the needy; and closing courthouses and juvenile lock-ups.
And it could mean eliminating more than 1,100 jobs, including 32 highway patrol posts, up to 111 corrections employees, 50 tax auditors and collectors, and an estimated 700 positions in Utah's colleges and universities. The figure does not include any reductions in public education.
While the cuts are hard to take, they recognize the current economic realities, Huntsman said in a recent interview. "Fortunately we're not like California, Ohio or Michigan right now, where they're making 25 percent cuts across the board."
As deep as those cuts are, Utah legislators plan to take more -- much more -- laying the groundwork this week for a 15 percent across-the-board budget cut, more than doubling the cost-cutting Huntsman is proposing.
The draft 2010 budget reductions, obtained by The Tribune through an open-records request, paint a much more detailed picture of the human element of state budget reductions.
Huntsman's spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, cautioned that the figures are only potential cuts, submitted by departments to demonstrate that they could meet the 7 percent target from the governor, and what those cuts might mean.
It will be up to the Legislature, in cooperation with the governor, to set next year's budget in the 2009 Legislative Session, starting next month.
Huntsman is proposing pulling money out of road projects and borrowing money through state bonds to complete much of the work. He wants to use that money, plus part of the state's $414 million Rainy Day Fund, to soften the blow in critical areas such as education and health and human services, and potentially salvage scores of jobs for at least a year.
Department of Health
Dr. David Sundwall, director of the Department of Health, said the way to cut costs is pay less to medical providers, reduce eligibility or scale back services. "There's a little bit of all three in here," he said.
For example, officials at the Health Department have proposed saving $9.5 million by eliminating a program that allows people to essentially buy into Medicaid coverage if they make too much to qualify.
"That is something that would be harsh, but at the same time, it is an optional service," Sundwall said. "That is hard because those are not wealthy people. Obviously, if you're near poor, you're pretty poor."
The department may also tighten its income threshold for pregnant women to receive prenatal care and for poor families to receive Medicaid, reduce the amount it pays pharmacies to fill Medicaid prescriptions, and scale back the dental benefits for children on the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Sundwall said, as hard as it is to get to the governor's 7 percent target, getting to the 15 percent level the Legislature wants is even more painful.
"I can't imagine, in our state, [the Legislature] having the willingness to cut this deep into health and human services because it's simply not the tradition of our state," said Sundwall. "Traditionally we recognize that there is a role for government caring for the most needy among us."
"These are serious and immediate issues, so we go back to the idea that not all cuts are equal," said Allison Rowland, budget director with the group Voices for Utah Children.
Prison system
The state prison system is looking at a number of different scenarios to cut nearly $18 million from its budget. In every case, the department would cut the Drug Offender Reform Act, designed to help rehabilitate drug offenders, and significantly reduce a jail reimbursement program, which houses state probationers in county jails.
The department also plans to delay construction of a 300-bed parole violator center for low-security inmates. Triple-bunking inmates at some facilities is possible to save money.
Overall, the department projects it could lose anywhere from 15 to 111 full-time employees and up to 492 prison beds, potentially creating a housing crisis for male inmates by next fall.
Corrections spokeswoman Angie Welling warned that the decisions are far from final and the figures were provided "to demonstrate the depth of these potential cuts."
Court system
The Utah Courts are threatened with losing nearly 100 full-time jobs and are considering closing courthouses in Roosevelt and Bountiful, consolidating the judges in other buildings.
Court Administrator Dan Becker said much of the cost for the courts are committed to personnel. "You get beyond 3 or 4 percent and you're looking at closing buildings or laying off personnel," he said.
"We're considering that as an option, but we're not sure that's the way we want to go," said Becker, who said there still need to be conversations with local officials, and unexpected costs with closing the Roosevelt courthouse might scuttle that idea. "These are situations where we really don't have many options. If we're reducing staff at some point, it makes sense for us to consolidate judges and staff into a single courthouse."
Natural Resources
The Department of Natural Resources may be forced to close some state parks three days a week. "They haven't determined how many parks and which days," said spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi, but the budget cuts are certainly "going to be felt by the public."
Education
The Utah Board of Regents is leaving it largely up to the state's 10 public colleges and universities to sort out how to meet their 7 percent target, but on the whole it is estimated that about 700 jobs systemwide could be eliminated.
Commissioner of Higher Education William Sederburg said Friday that some of that could be alleviated by tuition hikes, but "the great bulk of these cuts are going to be real, serious [reductions]."
If the Legislature decides to cut the 15 percent lawmakers are currently considering, the number of jobs lost would increase as well, up to about 1,500 across the system, Sederburg said.
"We're not trying to be dramatic," Sederburg said. "I think we all need to be aware of what the consequences will be and, given that the universities are so people-intensive in their budget, it clearly affects a number of people."
Tribune reporter Steve Gehrke contributed to this story.
