Governor Mead backs off on request for salary hikes

Gov. Matt Mead is proposing cuts to the state budget proposal he submitted to state legislators in
December.  Mead wrote to members of the Legislature's Joint Appropriations
Committee on Monday calling for cuts, including axing proposed pay
raises for state employees and for workers at the University of Wyoming.
     Mead proposed a $3.4-billion state budget in December. State
budget analysts this month said lower natural gas prices mean the
state will likely receive $100 million less than anticipated in the
two-year budget cycle that begins next July.
     Sen. Phil Nicholas, a Laramie Republican, is co-chairman of the
appropriations committee. He says that Mead's cuts may not go far
enough. He says every recipient of a state program needs to share
in the belt-tightening with state employees.