BELT TIGHTENING

JEFFERSON CITY -- Slowed economic growth during the past fiscal year cut into revenues of the Conservation Department, causing the agency to "squeeze the fiscal 1992 budget hard," according to Ed Glaser, the agency's deputy director.

The Conservation Commission has approved a budget with planned expenditures of $96,771,761 for the fiscal year that began July 1 and runs through June 30, 1992. This is about the same as the $95,499,161 in expenditures projected for the previous fiscal year.

"This is a lean budget," said Laser. "We can only spend as much as we take in, because the Conservation Department doesn't receive any general revenue money."