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Gov. Charlie Baker releases his budget proposal at the Statehouse on March 4, 2015.

(SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN)

BOSTON - Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday announced $50 million in mid-year budget cuts, part of an attempt to fill an estimated $320 million shortfall in the current year's budget.

Baker is counting on finding another $50 million in new revenue, mainly from unclaimed property and federal reimbursements.

"We are taking corrective action today to ensure we remain on target for a balanced budget in FY 2016. Today's corrections do not raise taxes or fees and will not affect the state's ability to deliver core services," Secretary of Administration and Finance Kristen Lepore said in a statement.

The total state budget for fiscal year 2016, which runs from July 2015 through June 2016, is $38.1 billion. According to Lepore, the anticipated deficit, which comes halfway through the year, is due primarily to a shortfall in non-tax revenue - things like settlements and fees. The budget also did not include enough money to cover obligations in areas such as human services caseloads, public defenders and judgments against the state.

Baker wrote in a letter to the legislature that he also anticipates raising projections for tax revenues in the coming days, which could make up some more of the shortfall. Although Baker did not specify by how much he will raise the projections, already this year tax revenue is coming in $113 million above expectations.

The biggest savings comes from costs associated with an early retirement incentive program, which gave public workers a pension boost for retiring early, at the beginning of this fiscal year. The savings come from spending less money hiring replacement workers than the budget had anticipated.

Baker is cutting $10 million from a MassHealth line item for "infrastructure and capacity building" grants for improving health care delivery and payment systems.

Several million dollars comes from fuel savings across a variety of state agencies, including $3.6 million from the state police and smaller sums from public hospitals, mental health facilities, the Holyoke Soldiers' Home, environmental agencies and other departments. This likely comes from the lower than anticipated price of oil.

During the budget process last summer, Baker tried to cut funding for the state's tourism agency, but was overruled by the legislature, which restored the money. Now, Baker is cutting $2 million earmarked for domestic marketing from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism's $16.2 million budget.

Another $6.5 million will come from a transportation trust fund.

Several economic development programs will also feel cuts, including a small business loan reserve, a fund to support big data projects, a workforce professionals association and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. Baker cut $3 million from regional incentive grants, money that was supposed to help towns collaborate to better provide services throughout a region.

Close to $1 million will come from education, including adult basic education and innovation schools, which are district schools created under former governor Deval Patrick that were given extra flexibility in areas like curriculum and staffing.

Baker also cut $200,000 for a state climatologist, a position created under Patrick that has never been filled.

Mid-year budget cuts are common, as projections of revenue and spending are tracked and revised throughout the year. According to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which tracks government spending, there have been seven instances of mid-year budget cuts since fiscal year 2002. But, according to the foundation, this is the first time budget cuts have been made when tax revenues are actually coming in above projections. That indicates that the problem is attributable to non-tax revenues and higher than anticipated spending and not, for example, to an economic downturn leading to low tax payments.

Baker announced his cuts at 5 p.m. on Friday - typically a time when people are paying little attention to the news out of state government. Massachusetts Democratic Party spokesman Pat Beaudry criticized the timing and the cuts.

"By slashing $50 million and hiding behind a Friday news dump, Gov. Baker is proving that he lacks vision for the future and sees budgets as numbers on a spreadsheet and not the people behind the programs," Beaudry said in a statement.