Get out the budget-cutting shears. A team of revenue forecasters tentatively agreed Wednesday that the state will have $1.5-billion less revenue this year than was projected earlier.

That will likely force cuts in services by legislators in a special session scheduled to begin Sept. 18.

Members of the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference cited a steep slide in sales tax receipts. The statewide 6-percent sales tax is the major source of paying for state government's day-to-day operations. "(It) looks very much like a recession," said Frank Williams, a state economist. "I'm expecting weaker growth."

-- Steve Bousquet