There was more bad budget news for the state on Wednesday. Mississippi Department of Health Director Dr. Mary Currier told lawmakers that the department has already laid off some workers because of budget cuts and will cut more jobs when the new fiscal year begins.

“Over the next several months, we will be also sending people home. We just don’t know how many people yet,”  Currier said at the Capitol during a public hearing conducted by the Legislative Black Caucus.

Most agencies will see spending reductions as part of the $6 billion budget for the coming year because tax collections are lagging, the Associated Press reported. The Department of Mental Health expects service cuts and layoffs to continue.

The Health Department’s state funding will be cut 11 percent, a loss of about $4 million, in the new year that begins July 1.

Currier said the department laid off 64 workers at county health clinics in recent months, and 89 jobs in the clinics have been left vacant because of a change in the way the Division of Medicaid pays the Health Department for some services. She said Medicaid is paying more than it used to pay to private health care providers, which means some patients who sought treatment at public health clinics are going to private providers. That translates into a one-third decrease in Medicaid payments to the Health Department, AP reported.

It doesn’t appear anyone talked with Currier about how her department would continue to adequately serve the public if spending was cut. Some lawmakers also felt like they had been left in the dark when the budget was being approved.

“We’re trying to get as much information about the budget process as possible, the budget situation that some of these agencies are facing,” said Rep. Jarvis Dortch, D-Raymond. “We didn’t get a lot of that information during the session.”

It’s one thing for the state to experience a little belt-tightening when revenues are down. It’s another when health agencies are having to lay off employees in the same year the Legislature approved tax cuts and borrowed $250 million for pet projects.  Our state deserves better.