"Everyone's feeling the budget crunch these days.

Our state is projecting $454 million shortfall in state revenues this year.

The state Legislature will discuss necessary project trimming and canceling in order to present a balanced budget for fiscal year 2009/2010 during the upcoming legislative session. It expects to fall nearly half a billion dollars short of its $6 billion annual budget, or an 8 percent loss.

No projects are exempt from the pending cuts.

The projected shortfall has the Navajo Tribal Council looking for alternate funding sources.

They face what all lawmakers across the nation are looking at in January: What must government provide its citizens?

In many cases, programs already hit by cuts can, at best, expect these reductions to stay in place through fiscal year 2010. That is because lawmakers crafting budgets typically allot the same amount as was committed at the end of the previous year."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Navajo Council must focus on priorities (The Farmington Daily Times 1/12)