Finance Minister Graham Steele says compromises will have to be made in light of the province's gloomy financial outlook. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

Nova Scotia's minister of finance is starting a pre-budget tour that will include 23 public meetings in 16 communities across the province.

Graham Steele said his cash-strapped government wants advice from Nova Scotians.

"I don't talk about cutting. I never use the word 'cut.' We have three tools to work with: We have expenditure restraint, we have increases in revenue and we have growing the economy," he said.

Steele can expect to hear calls to protect education, health care, social services, and a range of other issues.

On Thursday, school boards in the province called for a $36 million increase this year and warned of dire consequences for education if there's no new money.

Steele said there has to be a tradeoff, and that's the key question he will put to Nova Scotians in the weeks ahead.

"What is it you want the government to cut in order to find the money to do that?" he said.

"You could cut out, for example, all government travel by any civil servant anywhere and it's a drop in the bucket."

The NDP government is predicting a deficit of $525.2 million for 2009-10, about $66.9 million lower than first projected in the September budget.

With more money going out than coming in, there has been talk of tax hikes along with program cuts. A panel of experts has suggested hiking the harmonized sales tax by two percentage points, for example.

The pre-budget tour kicks off in Sydney on Friday.