State officials on Thursday scaled back their revenue estimates for the year, potentially setting the stage for continued cuts to programs and services when lawmakers reconvene for the 2018 legislative session.

Budget director David Roederer said the news would require "adjustments" to spending.

"It’s never easy, budgeting," he said. "It should never be easy, because we’re dealing with taxpayers’ money. If it becomes easy it means we are collecting too much from taxpayers. So we will adjust and we’ll have to figure out what’s the best approach as far as making recommendations to the governor and the Legislature."

The state's Revenue Estimating Conference, a three-person panel that works to forecast state revenue growth, projected in March the state would bring in $7.36 billion during the current 2018 budget year.

The Legislature built its budget around that estimate, and state agencies are making operating decisions based on those numbers.

But officials on Thursday downgraded their revenue estimate by about $130 million.

There is some cushion within the budget — about $98 million — that could be used to absorb a revenue shortfall.

But Roederer said he and the governor's office are always communicating with department heads, and this is likely a signal that they should be seeking ways to save money throughout the year.

"We are in constant communication with department heads, and every time we get together we give them a financial update as to where we are," he said. "So this isn’t going to come as new news to them. But what we’re saying is that when you know that you’re going to need to make adjustments, you’re much better off making the adjustments starting now than waiting two or three months from now."

The Revenue Estimating Conference meets again in December to make additional revisions to its forecast.

Roederer said Gov. Kim Reynolds likely would wait to make recommendations to the Legislature about cuts or adjustments to the current year's budget after she sees the December numbers.

She also will use the December numbers to craft her spending proposal for the upcoming 2019 budget year. That budget already faces pressure, because lawmakers will need to repay about $124 million to the state's reserve funds, which it borrowed to cover previous budget shortfalls.

Rep. Chris Hall, the top Democrat on the House budgeting committee, said Iowans would see the effects of the revenue projections through a lack of investment in programs and services.

"If we have flat growth in state revenue and we're also paying off the credit cards of the state, then people across the state are going to see a lack of investment in public education, a lack of investment in workforce training and other meaningful things that will help to create economic growth in this state," he said.

His Republican counterpart and chair of the House budget committee, Rep. Pat Grassley, blamed slow revenue growth on a lagging farm economy.

"Slow revenue growth is a trend being experienced nationwide, particularly in Midwestern states. While that is not ideal, it is reality," he said in a statement. "... House Republicans will continue to budget conservatively and protect taxpayers from unsustainable spending plans proposed by legislative Democrats."

Members of the revenue estimating panel also cited as factors in slow revenue growth the rise of online sales, which often do not remit sales taxes to states, as well as slower-than-expected wage growth.