Nancy Merrill, state parks director, has begun her first budget presentation to JFAC. Her department's budget request has changed significantly from the one first submitted; now, as a result of a deal announced last week by Merrill and Gov. Butch Otter, it calls for cutting $5.171 million in state general funds out of the Department of Parks and Recreation, a reduction of $8 million in overall funding. The original parks budget request called for a $1.2 million increase in state general funds to parks. Under the revised request, about $1.15 million of that general-fund cut would come from a realignment of the agency's management services, and another $3.5 million from realigning the agency's park operations.