States Feel Strain as Budgets Fall Short
State governments are cutting services and raising taxes to make ends meet.
Dec. 2, 2008— -- In Chicago, the lighting of the holiday Christmas tree is a sign of the season. But today, it's also a sign of the times.
The tree is traditionally lit the day after Thanksgiving, but this year there were no workers to light the tree because the state could not afford the holiday pay. Officials told workers to take the day off in an attempt to save money.
Also in Chicago, many parking meters are shooting up to $1 per hour, and city lawmakers could decide to cut hundreds of jobs.
"I think what we're doing isn't the right move. I think we're laying off the wrong people," said Billy Ocasio, a Chicago alderman. "We're laying off the people who do the work instead of the people behind the desk."
Across the country, the steep drop in tax revenues is bringing deep budget cuts.
In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency today, as lawmakers stare at a possible $28 billion deficit in the coming year and a half. Schwarzenegger ordered lawmakers to convene for a special session to make cuts, likening the state to an accident victim.
"We wouldn't spend hours debating which ambulance we should use, which hospital, or which treatment," he said in a press conference. "No, first we would stop the bleeding."
At a recent meeting in San Francisco, armed officers had to be called in when protestors got fired up at a meeting of the University of California Board of Regents over pension cuts and tuition hikes. They're fighting cuts in pensions, a 9 percent hike in student fees and some 10,000 admissions spots at state universities that could be cut for next year.
California isn't the only state in crisis. At a session of the National Governors Association today, Republican and Democratic governors alike met with President-elect Barack Obama in Philadelphia, seeking help to ease their strained budgets.
