I'm not a super nor do I play one on TV, but I can tell you exactly how to accomplish that 10-25% budget cut. Two, even three times that if you want. Leave your million dollar plus per acre as residential lot areas like Long Island and the Bay Area where much of GCA lives and come out here to Iowa and visit a few courses I have within 20 minutes of me, or visit John K in Indiana for similar courses I'm sure he knows of or next time you are going to Sand Hills stop at some random community nine hole course rather than Wild Horse or Dismal River.
These places have small greens and keep them cut higher than we are used to, only cut their fairways and tees a couple times a week, use fewer or no chemicals or fertilizers in the fairways. Often the only irrigation is on the greens and, if you are lucky, tees. There are fewer bunkers, and those that do exist are small and only raked if the guy in front of you did the raking.
So what do you get for that? Slower greens, but if they have more slope, who cares (though it would be nice if they putted truer) Taller grass in fairways and on tees so you don't get the super tight perfect lies. Bare spots or even weeds can be found in fairways - hey if Bobby Jones could handle it, so can you. And the bunkers are true hazards, not the easy to control perfect lie the spoiled pros whine about if they don't get every time. But as a bonus you get extra roll on all your shots that don't land on the green itself, whether you want it or not!
You don't need to go all the way to these cow pasture courses if you want, there is plenty of room in the middle ground. Though it seems to me that everyone who played Painswick loved it, and I can't imagine their maintenance budget is very high...
Honestly, if labor is 70% of the budget like the supers here are saying, then its clear that you need to have fewer workers, so you need to concentrate on the important stuff and cut back on less important stuff. So plow under the flowers, use fewer chemicals and fertilizer on the fairways and tees and accept less perfect conditions there, and mow those fairways and tees, and especially rough, less frequently. Find a couple old guys who live on a fixed income and offer them discount or free golf in exchange for filling the ball washers with soap, swapping the water coolers, and other simple tasks.