A $400 million cut to state colleges and universities and an $120 million difference in state workers pay cuts are holding up agreement on budget talks.

Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander said he and House leaders are narrowing in on their budget disagreements but the higher ed cuts appear to be a sticking point.

The Senate had spent the same amount for community colleges and universities this year as it did last although enrollment at community colleges has spiked and is expected to continue to climb.

But the House wants to slash about $400 million from higher ed.

Earlier in the day, Alexander told Senate Democrats that he doesn’t like the House’s higher ed proposal.

“I think that would be devastating to those institutions in these days,” Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said.

House leaders also want to cut state workers’ salaries by $140 million, between 4 and 5 percent depending on how much employees earn.

The Senate is willing to cut state workers who make at least $100,000 but wants to keep the lower-paid workers’ salaries off-limits.

Tags: education, state agencies, State House, State Senate

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm and is filed under legislature, state budget, State House, State Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.