Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, proposed an austere budget for Idaho Public Television for next year, and JFAC Co-Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, seconded the motion, which then passed unanimously. It includes a 16.2 percent cut in state funding from this year's level, and an 8.3 percent overall cut. Part of that is accomplished by reducing the network's state funding, on a one-time basis, by the amount of the $97,200 federal grant it won last month. The budget, however, skips over Gov. Butch Otter's budget recommendation for a four-year phaseout of all state funding to IPTV; JFAC members have made it clear that they're not addressing those proposals, which the governor has since said were meant merely as a "wake-up call" to spur savings in a half-dozen agencies. The budget sets state funding for IPTV next year at $1.39 million, down from $1.66 million this year; the network's total budget for next year is $2.4 million, with much of the money coming from grants and viewer donations.

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