Calif. budget cuts could cost later

SACRAMENTO, July 19 (UPI) -- Experts say cuts made for short-term savings to resolve California's budget crisis could cost the state billions of dollars in the next few years.

Eliminating funding for home health aides could force many elderly and disabled residents to move to nursing homes, the Los Angeles Times reports. Cutting spending on poison-control hotlines could lead to thousands of additional visits to emergency rooms, the newspaper said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, struggling to resolve disagreements with Democrats who control in the state legislature over how to close a $26 billion budget gap, is aware of the problem.

"As much as we believe those cuts will result in greater expense down the line -- especially in healthcare -- we have to do it because I can't promise the people something we don't have," Schwarzenegger told a Sacramento radio station, KXJZ-FM.

Nicholas Freudenberg was the author of a 2006 study that estimated less than $10 billion in cuts to public services in New York during the financial crisis of the 1970s cost the city $54 billion during the next 20 years.

"It's pay now or pay later," Freudenberg said.