Pawlenty's Proposed Budget Cuts

Governor Tim Pawlenty is protecting K-12 education, public safety and veterans from budget cuts while tapping money for local governments and human services. Pawlenty presented his plan for cutting a 426-million dollar shortfall in the budget that runs through June. He's first using up the remaining 155-million dollars in the state's reserve fund. Then he's taking 110-million dollars from money that was to be sent to cities and counties on December 26. He's exempting four small counties, and the cities with the smallest populations. Some of the othe big cuts are 73-million dollars from Human Services, 40-million dollars from the states colleges and universities and 40-million from the budgets of state agencies. While those are the biggest cuts, the whole list covers many of the state government's functions and includes taking back unspent grant money from various programs.