KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsNebraska lawmakers unanimously approve budget bill

Nebraska lawmakers unanimously approve budget bill

LINCOLN, Neb. (KTIV) - Nebraska lawmakers headed home from Lincoln Friday night.  After two weeks and two days of debate, they closed the $334 million budget gap, getting Governor Dave Heineman's signature on the bill.

"It's not something that we want to do, but our challenge going in was to find the best and fairest solution," said freshman Senator Bob Giese of South Sioux City, referring to the $34 dollars cut from Nebraska schools. Education makes up 40% of the state's budget, to the tune of a billion dollars.

"It's our hope that school districts do their best to make decisions on a local level and do what's best inside each school district," added Speaker Mike Flood. 

Schools aren't alone.  Governor Dave Heineman called for an across the board budget cut of 2.5%  for the 2009 fiscal year, and another 5% the following year.  The governor says many agencies will share the sacrifice.

"There's no question, we're all going to have to tighten our belts, just like every business, every media outlet in the state is going through it, and we're going to go through it now," said Heineman after signing the bill into law

Not all of Heineman's recommendations were met.   In order to save 22 courthouses from closing, the Unicameral agreed on a smaller 1.5%  cut to the court system.  Exemptions were also made to save some jobs. The Department of Corrections and Public Safety will each face about two million dollars in cuts over the next two years, but will rely on attrition to soften the blow.

"Right now, the money's not in the budget to hire new troopers but we won't be letting any go," Flood explained.

When lawmakers return to the capitol in January, they'll continue to contend with shrinking tax revenue in the Husker state.  Come  Monday, the rest of the state's agencies will put pencil to paper, to figure out a plan to cover the shortfall.