First in a series of articles on issues facing the 2009 Iowa Legislature.

DES MOINES -- During her 27 years as a teacher, Rep.-elect Sharon Steckman occasionally was on the receiving end of state budget cuts from education.

Now, as one of 25 new legislators taking the oath of office Jan. 12 when the 83rd General Assembly convenes, the Mason City Democrat is working the other side of the street.

Steckman and the 149 other lawmakers making the trek to the state Capitol to begin a two-year run will be confronted with difficult budget-balancing decisions that even some veteran lawmakers have not had to face during their legislative tenures.

"It will be tough," Steckman said.

The excitement of her first year as an elected representative for House District 13 will be curbed by budget realities that could force paring back or delaying spending commitments to programs she supports.

"I think my priorities will be the same; they'll have to be tempered a little bit," she said.

Fellow incoming freshman Rep. Kerry Burt, a Waterloo Democrat elected to a two-year term in District 21, said he already has faced problems associated with downturn in the U.S. economy at his financial services business so he approaches the challenges of his new post with open eyes.

"I'm modestly optimistic that we'll still have a strong session," said Burt, a former University of Iowa football player making his elective debut.

Gov. Chet Culver already has trimmed current-year state spending by nearly $180 million -- including a $91.4 million across-the-board cut effective Jan. 1 that spared only public safety -- and he has warned that formulating a fiscal 2010 budget with legislators will be significantly more painful.

"This is going to be a shared sacrifice," said Culver, who has pledged to hold the line on tax increases but also has left all options open as the state struggles to deal with economic and natural disasters.

Culver said he expected the 1.5 percent across-the-board cut likely would result in employee layoffs, unpaid furloughs and other cost-saving measures. He previously froze hiring and out-of-state travel, postponed purchases and halted building projects to adjust to declining revenue forecasts and stave off the need for future tax increases.

The deeper fiscal 2009 spending cuts were required after forecasters scaled back current year revenue expectations by nearly $100 million and reduced expected fiscal 2010 tax receipts by $132.6 million.

Charles Krogmeier, director of the state Department of Management, said state agencies have been told to expect "below status quo" funding in fiscal 2010 as the governor and lawmakers wrestle with spending commitments that, by some accounts, top projected state tax collections by more than $600 million. State negotiators also have called for a wage freeze in collective bargaining talks with state employee unions.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said the actual imbalance that policymakers face is in the $200 million-$300 million range and prospects for a federal economic stimulus package that directs Medicaid assistance to states could help ease Iowa's budget pressure.

Republicans have expressed concerns that spending is not being cut fast enough or deep enough following two years of rapid government growth. They contend the state's mounting budget woes are "self-imposed" because majority Democrats overspent despite repeated warnings.

"The decisions they have to make are just awful," said Rep. Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, a former House speaker and minority leader who had direct roles in past budget-cutting sessions. "They basically have to undo everything they've done over the past two years, and they're just not prepared for it.

"It's going to be a baptism by fire for the new members, but even for the sophomores. I think that makes for a really rough-and-tumble year."

Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he believes veteran and newly elected legislators alike are heading into the 2009 session knowing that revenues are declining and that most of the pools of money outside the general fund have dried up.

He said he expected the Legislature to try to keep the commitment to boost "allowable growth" to K-12 school districts by 4 percent, but he noted that other multiyear funding items might have to be stretched over additional years to balance the fiscal 2010 ledger.

Gronstal said he expects lawmakers will get down to basics in dealing with the budget, including shortening the planned 110-day session by 10 days to save more than $300,000.

"There are three things that state government does -- it incarcerates, it medicates and it educates and, after that, there's almost nothing else left in the budget," he said.

"I think we have two jobs this session -- the disaster recovery and assemble the best budget we can under the circumstances and get the heck out of Dodge," Gronstal added. "The longer we stay here, the more people are going to come and ask us for resources that the state doesn't have right now."

Contact Rod Boshart at newsroom@wcfcourier.com