Gov. Mike Beebe announced this morning a $106 million state government budget cut.
That’s a cut of 2.4 percent across the board in the general revenue portion of the state budget, he said.
Beebe cited the slowing of state revenue collections as a reason for the reduction in the budget. General revenue has fallen short of collections a year earlier for 11 of the last 13 months.
Beebe in October trimmed the state budget for fiscal 2010 by about $100 million to $4.4 billion. Last week, the Department of Finance and Administration recommended the additional cut.
"Arkansans are being increasingly cautious with their money, and our government must reflect that in our use of tax dollars," Beebe said. "While we still foresee a recovery for our state economy, our spending must match the pace of that recovery to keep our budget balanced."
The governor's office said rainy-day funds will be used to help the Department of Human Services, the Department of Correction and the Department of Community Corrections.
Additionally, education funds will be shifted to maintain the adequacy requirements in public schools.