Bredesen Says Painful Cuts Necessary To Balance Budget

Governor Phil Bredesen says the state will need to make some painful spending cuts in order to balance next year's budget. Faced with a 468-million-dollar shortfall, Bredesen says the state will maintain the current pre-K-through-12 funding formula outlined under the Basic Education Program. However, improvements included in last year's BEP 2.0 plan won't be funded. Neither will new pre-kindergarten classrooms. Bredesen says the proposal he'll present to state lawmakers Monday night balances recurring expenses with recurring revenue and is based on reasonable revenue estimates for next year. The revised budget also calls for the layoffs of about two-thousand state workers. Bredesen hopes to do this through voluntary buyouts.

The Tennessee State Employees Association is on board with Governor Phil Bredesen's plan to offer buyouts to state employees. President Zoyle Jones says this will soften the blow for their membership. He hopes the General Assembly will adopt the proposal offered by the governor in order to balance the budget. Bredesen says about two-thousand state employee positions will need to be eliminated to help bridge the state's 468-million dollar budget shortfall. He hopes this can be done through voluntary buyouts.