AUGUSTA – The budget ax is poised to lop millions of dollars from some state departments while the Legislature could be spared any cut at all.

Proposed cuts to balance a state deficit include $13 million in the University of Maine System budget. In the legislative budget? Zero.

Even so, some lawmakers pledged that there would be cuts. Others said they would look at making cuts.

Gov. John Baldacci has ordered cuts in programs to help tame a projected $113 million deficit, red ink that’s expected to grow.

The governor didn’t propose cuts to the Legislature’s budget because he wanted lawmakers to come up with their own recommendations, officials said.

And they will, Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said Monday. Rotundo serves on the Appropriations Committee, which recommends spending levels to the full Legislature.

“Everything is on the table,” she said, adding that she has “enormous concerns” about proposed cuts to the university and community college systems and to social programs that people depend on. “We need to work hard to find savings.”

House Speaker Patrick Colwell, D-Gardiner, said he and Senate President Beverly Daggett, D-Augusta, will look at cutting the legislative budget, which was cut substantially last year.

Lawmakers will adjourn early this year to save taxpayers money, Colwell said. For each week lawmakers are in session, the cost is about $80,000.

“That’s not for salaries of the legislators, it’s for staff and support that goes with it,” Colwell said. “We will move as efficiently as we can.”

Last year, legislators cut 11.1 percent, or $5.1 million, of the legislative budget. Money was saved by shortening the session, cutting travel, and eliminating some raises for staffers.

Some critics have said legislative staffers’ salaries are overly generous. For example, the House clerk and Senate secretary make about $100,000 a year. In 2002, the chief of staff for the Senate president was paid $75,000 a year. That’s more than the governor’s $70,000 salary.

Colwell defended the salaries of legislative staffers, saying they work long hours. “The difference between the folks who work here and a lot of other jobs is some work 80 or 90 hours a week,” he said. During the legislative session some don’t go home until 9 at night. “They’re busy, even outside the session,” Colwell said.

Rep. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, who with Rotundo serves on the Appropriations Committee, said the legislative budget wouldn’t be immune from cuts.

The committee is scheduled to begin reviewing department-by-department spending on Jan. 13, Rotundo said.

“We have a huge problem, not only in the first year but in the second year,” Millett said. “Everything’s on the table.”

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