CHEYENNE - When it comes to state government spending, Wyoming voters rank K-12 education, roads and water projects as their top priorities, according to a new Casper Star-Tribune poll.

According to the poll of 625 voters Jan. 9-11, voters also strongly support spending on affordable housing, child care, community colleges, municipalities and the Game and Fish Department.

The Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, continues to trim Gov. Dave Freudenthal's supplemental budget proposal, including cuts in many of those areas.

JAC co-chairmen Sen. Philip Nicholas, R-Laramie, and Rep. Frank Philp, R-Shoshoni, insist they aren't out of step with the public. The cuts merely allow the entire Legislature to have a larger say in spending, and many of the governor's priorities may yet return this session, they said.

"When the bill goes out on the floor, that's when a lot of the prioritizations will take place," Philp said.

Freudenthal - whose performance is rated "good" or "excellent" by 75 percent of voters, according to the poll - said that approach might work, or it could result in a "train wreck."

"At the end of the session, we need to have addressed highways, cities and towns, economic development and work force, and I hope they do," Freudenthal said.

The governor deflected a question about the implications of his high approval rating by saying, "I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it," and then adding, "Maybe they like my wife."

According to the poll, nearly a third of voters rank K-12 education as their top spending priority. Next are highways with 21 percent, and then water projects with 12 percent.

Support falls away somewhat for child care, 9 percent; local governments, 7 percent; more state troopers, 6 percent; higher education, 5 percent; and housing, 5 percent. The remaining 4 percent were undecided.

The poll was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. of Washington, D.C. The margin of error is 4 percent.

Nicholas said the poll results reinforce the public's desire for a strong education system and highlight areas where the Legislature is doing a good job.

"The message here is the voters think we've done a good job of addressing the needs of cities, towns and counties," Nicholas said.

Asked in the poll about their support for individual budget proposals from the governor and some lawmakers, voters registered the following levels of support:

* A program to encourage construction of affordable housing by subsidizing water, sewer and street infrastructure: 59 percent in favor, 33 percent opposed and 8 percent undecided.

* Funding from the state General Fund to the Game and Fish Department, which is suffering lost revenue because of a downturn in sales of hunting and fishing licenses, its primary revenue source: 54 percent in favor, 38 percent opposed and 8 percent undecided.

* Subsidizing child care operations to increase their accessibility and quality: 65 percent in favor, 26 percent opposed and 9 percent undecided.

* Giving a bigger share of state revenue to cities, towns and counties: 69 percent in favor, 20 percent opposed and 11 percent undecided.

* Using state funds for construction of buildings at community colleges, instead of using only local tax dollars: 69 percent in favor, 21 percent opposed and 10 percent undecided.

"The problem with this polling," Nicholas said, "is that the constituents are not required to prioritize their spending."

He noted that the cost of all bills proposed this session is $750 million. The entire budget surplus is roughly $550 million.

"We can only spend so much," Philp said.

As a result of the limitations, the Joint Appropriations Committee reduced highway funding in Freudenthal's budget from $162 million to about $55 million, funding for the Wyoming Business Council's Business Ready Communities grant program from $55.7 million to $25 million, local government funding from $150 million to $81.5 million, and a contribution to the Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust Fund from $45 million to $6 million.

While Freudenthal's budget left just $10 million for the Legislature to spend, lawmakers now have about $200 million on the table, Nicholas said.

Lawmakers may use some of the money to address critical spending areas not covered in Freudenthal's budget. For example, a legislative task force recommended $30 million to address mental health and substance abuse issues, including methamphetamine addiction.

"There's a great deal in health spending that the health committee has been working on that the governor has either not made recommendations on or had to observe," Nicholas said.

Freudenthal's budget included funding to operate a proposed methamphetamine treatment center in Casper and more Highway Patrol troopers to curtail the flow of meth into the state.

Freudenthal warned that the budget approach chosen by the Joint Appropriations Committee could become convoluted and may encourage lawmakers to think in terms of single-year funding instead of the two-year budgeting process.

"I thought it was frankly a kind of abdication of the committee's role, but each committee chairman decide to do it differently," he said.

The governor also noted that the Legislature has access to an additional $180 million designated for the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund that has not yet been deposited in the fund. His budget redirected that money to highway construction funding, but the committee didn't like that plan.

"As a practical reality, there's $400 million to $500 million out there. The question is what they decide to do with it," he said.

In the end, Freudenthal said his spending priorities - highways, work force development, more state troopers, funding for cities and towns - are in line with priorities expressed by many legislative candidates during the recent campaign season.

"What's not clear to me is whether those candidates, now that they're elected, are going to do what they said they were going to do," he said. "If they do what they said they were going to do, these things will get done this session."

Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@casperstartribune.net.