Citizens and state-funded organizations voiced concerns about the effects of probable program cuts in a public discussion led by State House Speaker Steve Sviggum Monday morning at Jerry's Other Place in Austin.

Employees and members of Semcac, nursing homes and the Center for Crime Victim Services tried to illustrate to Sviggum, R-Kenyon, the tight situations their organizations are in due to proposed budget cuts that are in response to the state deficit.

Groups feeling the effects of the cuts seemed to think that raising taxes or finding less essential programs to cut was necessary.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has promised to balance the state budget without raising taxes.

"I'm not going to create the expectation that (cuts in state funds) are not going to be there," Sviggum said. "There will be more cuts. The worst way to deal with it is to raise taxes."

Sviggum cited three polls released this week, which indicated that two-thirds of Minnesotans prefer reducing spending to raising taxes.

One member of the Center for Crime Victim Services said that cuts to the program are slated to be at 51 percent. She said that quality of care for battered women and children would suffer and raising taxes was preferable to losing services.

Area nursing homes are also feeling the crunch. A decrease in state funds will make it more difficult to do things such as holding a bed for sick patients making temporary moves to the hospital.

"I can not believe that a country as wealthy as the U.S. can't afford to take care of the elderly and homeless," said one exasperated man to Sviggum.

There was some support for the governor's promise of a balanced budget with no taxes. One citizen said that cities need to find a way to support themselves without relying so heavily on state aid.

The talk was organized by State Rep. Jeff Anderson, R-Austin.