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Branstad plans extra cuts to colleges to cover shortfall

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February 24th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A top budget official for Gov. Terry Branstad has released details about $11.5 million in cuts that will help close a mid-year budget shortfall. The Iowa Legislature passed a budget bill earlier this year that included roughly $117 million in cuts to cover the shortfall. David Roederer, with the Iowa Department of Management, indicated at the time that $11.5 million of that amount would come from unspecified cuts to operational expenses, such as supplies and equipment purchases.

Roederer said in a Friday afternoon news release that the $11.5 million in cuts would include an additional $2.7 million in reductions to Iowa’s three public universities and about $1.7 million to community colleges. Lawmakers had already ordered the schools to cut $21 million from the current budget, which began last July.