Gov. Steve Beshear conceded to a convention of Kentucky’s county officials Tuesday that another round of state budget cuts is going to be painful and may force some cuts in priority services.

One area dear to county officials’ hearts and local budgets will be spared for now at least. There are no plans for the present to cut the county jail bed allotment, state funding for jail operations separate from the per diem payment the state makes for state inmates housed in county jails.

The state is facing at least a $161 million shortfall in the current year, on top of more than $800 million in cuts from the state budget over the past two years. Last Friday, Beshear asked state agencies to determine how they could absorb another 6 percent cut in funding.

But Kerri Richardson, Beshear’s spokeswoman, said the bed allotment for county jails “is not part of the budget reduction analysis.”

“That’s great,” said Vince Lange, executive director of the County Judge/Executives Association. Earlier, word got out at the 35th annual Kentucky Association of Counties – KACo – convention at the Galt House in Louisville that the allotment might be subject to the cut.

Lang was happy to hear Richardson’s confirmation the bed allotment wasn’t part of the budget reduction at this point. Beshear has repeatedly said he wants to spare corrections, Medicaid, public safety and school funding from state budget cuts.

Beshear hinted, however, that those priorities might not be safe forever.

“You need to understand the size and the speed of the freight train that’s coming at us right now,” Beshear told the KACo audience. It will “force us to pare down rather dramatically our priorities.”

Beshear said the recession has cost Kentucky 100,000 jobs since May 2008 and the recovery is expected to be slow and long. The current two-year budget spends just over $9 billion in the state’s general fund but revenue projections indicate the state will fall about $1.3 billion short of that amount in the next two years. Part of that is due to the reliance on federal stimulus funding in the current budget, money which is due to end next year.

“The next two years will make it extremely difficult to preserve those priorities,” Beshear said.

Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton said county officials aren’t surprised by Beshear’s gloomy budget picture.

“The mood is kind of somber right now,” Eaton said. “They just don’t know what to expect.”

He said county officials recognize the difficulties imposed on state and county budgets by the economic downturn.