It went down yesterday. At 2 p.m., Gov. Tim Pawlenty made good on his promise to balance the state’s budget himself after the legislative session ended in May on a stalemate.

The cuts were deep in what are some of the worst economic conditions since World War II.

In total, $300 million will be cut from towns, cities, counties and townships, with higher education seeing a $100 million reduction. Health and human services will be cut by $236 million and state agencies by $33 million. In addition, $1.8 billion in aid for K-12 schools will be deferred in the 2010 fiscal year and be later returned.

On the local level, Austin is forecasted to lose $380,012 in local government aid for 2009 and another $876,000 in 2010.

While the news is bad, it could have been worse.

The cuts are less than the governor’s originally proposed cuts for Austin of nearly $600,000 for 2009 and more than $1.2 million in 2010.

In April, the Austin City Council approved dozens of budget reduction recommendations for the next two years in preparation.

What it all means is that the City will be forced to make painful cuts through 2010, but Austin will get through it, just as it did when LGA was reduced by more than $1.3 million from 2003 to 2004.

On a final note, the 2009 legislative session should be a wake-up call for Minnesota officials.

It’s unacceptable a balanced budget wasn’t reached in May, and both sides should have shifted closer to the middle and reached a compromise, period.