JACKSON - Sharman Smith worries that local libraries may have to switch money from buying books to paying salaries.
James Sledge is hoping for rain and more rain to avoid telling folks he's got fewer employees to battle wildfires.
Stanley Miller wants to keep numbers of teachers high and class sizes small as public education dollars shrink.
There are worries aplenty out around the state after worsening economic conditions forced Gov. Ronnie Musgrove last week into slashing government agency budgets by $116 million.
Many agencies are expecting more bad news once legislators begin crafting a new budget next week for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Smith is executive director of the Mississippi Library Commission, an agency that gives advice to public libraries across the state and to communities seeking to establish libraries.
Since last November, the Library Commission's $10.6 million budget, modest by some agency standards, has been cut $533,000.
"We've had to leave a number of positions vacant. We're not filling some, which means we're not able to provide services to the libraries as we would like," Smith said.
Fewer travel dollars mean staff cannot get out on the road to assist local librarians.
One of the commission's largest programs is the $5 million that goes for personnel grants to the local library systems.
"The grants program allows the state to provide salary dollars to make sure local libraries have qualified staff to serve the public," Smith said.
If state help dwindles, local libraries will have to come up with salary money.
"They are going to have to have those dollars from somewhere in their local budget and in many cases it may be their book budget. There may be people in a community that won't get new books for a few months so that local library can have someone there to open that branch every day," Smith said.
Sledge is the state forester and director of the Mississippi Forestry Commission. Although he says the agency does more than fight wildfires, it is the commission's most visible job.
Since November, $960,000 has been cut from the Forestry Commission's $19 million budget.
"We have reduced out manpower by 60 positions, which means we have fewer firefighters," Sledge said. "So far, we've had a fairly wet year and a moderate fire season. If we have a severe season, we'll have problems."
The commission also works in conservation and forest management programs, all of which Sledge said have suffered because of fewer dollars.
"Our people focus on one thing today and another thing tomorrow," he said. "All of the programs have seen some decline. We do what we can and ease off where we cannot get to things."
Miller is superintendent of the 4,000-plus Pearl Separate School District. The district's $9.6 million budget took a $348,000 hit.
"We'd be considered an average district," Miller said. "We're blessed with a solid tax base. My concern is districts that have very little tax base and no fund balance (surplus). Where do they go to generate funds?"
Overall, the public schools that dodged reductions last fall in the first round of budget cuts were cut $56.7 million last week. The minimum program budget, on which public school funding is based, is $1.2 billion.
Miller said his district put some money away before the budget cuts.
"I think there are two things districts are going to do. One is they are going to freeze for hirings for people leaving and retiring, or two, the worse scenario, is they are going to have to rift. So when you look at rift, you're talking about teacher load numbers going from one teacher to 22 students, to possible 1-27 or 28," Miller said.
State Superintendent of Education Richard Thompson said there is no hope that money cut from budgets this year will be restored. He said school districts can expect little improvement next fiscal year.
"It is a very serious situation," Thompson said. "It is really going to start to impact the classroom level. There will be districts that will not be able to fill teaching slots because so much of our money in education is in personnel.
"The only place you can get significant amounts of money is to cut people," he said.
Musgrove said the cuts were necessary not only because of the slumping economy but also because of "a lack of priority in setting the budget last spring and it shows what happens when you use inflated numbers."
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