State Budget Cuts Hurt Health, Higher Education And Essential Services The Most

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A look back at this year’s major state budget cuts shows who took the hardest hits in New Hampshire. As the Nashua Telegraph reports, with $1 billion slashed from the budget, more agencies than usual felt the effects.

Republican legislators heralded the budget as a victory for smaller government, shaving more than $1 billion, or 11 percent, off the prior spending plan.

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But many state Democrats decried the budget for digging too deeply into some of the state’s most essential services and programs.

Hospitals lost more than $115 million and laid off more than 1,000 staffers. The state university system endured record budget cuts and saw its coffers trimmed by 45 percent. As a result, 200 employees in public higher education lost their jobs. The Department of Transportation faced a 13 percent cut and also cut its workforce.

Other agencies facing cuts are New Hampshire Legal Assistance and the state’s Division of Family Assistance.

For New Hampshire, state budget cuts are an anomaly. In the last half century, the state budget has been cut only once, and and that was by 1 percent.

Ed. Note: In an earlier version of this post, we mistakenly referred to the Nashua Telegraph as the “Nashua Telegram.”  We regret the error.