Bryant forced to make more emergency budget cuts
Gov. Phil Bryant announced Tuesday he's again forced to make emergency mid-year cuts to the state budget and dip into the state's rainy day fund, the fifth such cut for most state agencies in less than two years, with more cuts on the horizon from the Legislature for the coming year.
Bryant said Tuesday he is ordering $43 million in cuts — less than 1 percent of the state's $6.1 billion budget — and pulling $7 million from the rainy day fund to help pay the state's bills through the end of the fiscal year in June. Along with some agencies statutorily exempted from the cuts, this round will spare student financial aid, the state's schools for the blind and deaf, mental health, Child Protection Services and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
"Unlike other states, Mississippi has a healthy reserve I have drawn upon to fund vital services like mental health, public safety and the military, some of which have received small reductions," Bryant said in a statement Tuesday. "However, I have for the first time made minimal reductions in education as a necessity. We are fortunate that proper management has prevented a tax increase for the hardworking taxpayers of Mississippi. It is the governor's statutory responsibility to balance the budget. I will uphold that duty."
Lawmakers were recently told revenue is more than $116 million below projections, including an $18.5 million shortfall for January. The state's economist and treasurer's office last week gave lawmakers a dour report on the state's economy, saying the state's growth and other economic indicators are lagging behind the nation, it has lost population and state sales tax collections — its largest source of income — was at -0.5 percent for fiscal 2017 through January.
Read more: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/21/bryant-forced-cut-budget-again/98199496/