Swift cuts system by $3 million

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

sing her executive authority to address a possible $300 million budget shortfall, Acting Gov. Jane Swift last week cut more than $200 million in state spending, including $3 million from the University system and another $3 million from the state and community colleges.

     The latest reductions, the fourth round of cuts in the past year, are expected to translate into the loss of $1.5 million for the Amherst campus. Campus officials have not announced how the cut will be absorbed.

     In her message, Swift said the public higher education cuts are an "unfortunate but unavoidable effect of the continued economic uncertainty."

     The Group Insurance Commission took the biggest hit from the governor as she trimmed its budget by $28.8 million. The next biggest cut was $20 million from the state's collective bargaining reserve.

     The governor also ordered that all state "managers" take mandatory five-day furloughs, though administration officials have not detailed what positions the unpaid leaves would affect.

     Swift also called upon the Legislature to take up another $100 million in reductions, including a provision to increase the share of health insurance costs paid by state employees. Swift favors a three-tiered pay system that she claims will save the state about $12 million. Under the current system, state employees pay 15 percent of their insurance costs, while the state covers the rest.

     Although state revenues are running about $47 million ahead of projections, Swift said the overall economic outlook is still grim enough to justify the cutbacks.

     "We don't think 3 or 4 percent growth is going to materialize," she told the State House News Service. "Folks are nervous."