State Troopers Hoping to Dodge Budget Cuts

A tight budget leaves legislators making some tough decisions about funding state agencies. One of those decisions could reduce the number of state troopers on Mississippi's highways. MPB's Stephen Koranda reports.

Around a dozen state troopers were at the capital yesterday, to highlight concerns over proposals to cut millions of dollars from the Department of Public Safety. Donna Echols lobbies on behalf of state troopers.

“The biggest issue and the biggest concern we have is to make sure that people continue to focus on public safety and that continues to be their top priority.”

Troopers are concerned there will be cuts in hours, furloughs or jobs lost. Some benefit cuts have already been announced beginning July 1st. Echols believes that has played a part in around 40 experienced troopers announcing their retirement. She says anything that takes troopers off the road isn’t good for public safety.

“It’s very simple. The fewer troopers you have on the roadways, the more DUIs you’ll have, the more traffic fatalities will continue to increase.”

Alan Nunnelee of Tupelo is one of the Senate budget negotiators. He says public safety is one his highest priorities, but the state is left with few options in this tough economic time.

“A large part of the state budget is protected by the terms of the stimulus package, and we cannot impose any of the downturn in revenue on those agencies. So a very small fraction of the state workforce has to deal with a large part of the downturn.”

Some of the protected areas include big budget items like education. Lawmakers are hoping to have budget agreements finalized by the time the session resumes on the 26th.