'Broke' states skimp on pens, lightbulbs

To some, they are just nuts-and-bolts pencil pushers - nerds who do the perfunctory arithmetic of state government. To others, they are the financial whizzes who oil the machinery of state government.

They are the nation's 50 state budget officers, mostly nonpartisan functionaries stuck in the middle of the biggest story in American finance - the worst state budget crunch since World War II.

After a decade of huge surpluses, these are the hapless gents and ladies who must help close a collective gap of $30 billion for this year and nearly $70 billion for next. They don't make policy, but they suggest it to lawmakers.

The budget situation has gotten so bad that, for all the officers' years on the job, some of this year's suggestions sound like a one-liners rolling off the lips of Rodney Dangerfield, the bug-eyed comic who claimed, "It's rough out there ..."

How rough is it? It's so rough that ...:

• In Illinois, some prison populations have been asked to reduce pharmaceutical costs by ordering double-potent prescription tablets and then splitting them in half.

• In Missouri, the governor has ordered every third light bulb unscrewed, office-supply closets locked, and heavier reliance on websites to save money on paper.

• Kentucky may impose new taxes on services ranging from drape-cleaning and flower arranging to termite-removal and bowling and golf.

Other quirky recent suggestions include reduced food portions and no coffee refills for prison inmates, the removal of light bulbs from vending machines, and reduced hours for museums and zoos.

But if some of the moves might sound comedic, the actual situation is not. Indeed, states are partly trying to reassure citizens that they are doing everything possible to solve the crisis at a time when major service cuts are hitting home.

"This is extremely stressful. As a period of tough choices, this is the worst it's been in over five decades for states," says Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers. "During the boom of the 1990s, we were going into lawmakers and saying, 'you can have apple pie with whipped cream, donuts and chocolate cake,' " says Pattison. "Now, we're saying, 'you can have some iceberg lettuce, without the green part.' "

The weak US economy, compounded by a declining stock market, a possible war with Iraq, and new pushes for homeland security have all exacerbated fiscal problems for every state.

To cope, states are making big cuts across the board from education to aid for local governments.

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