Greitens' COO tells cabinet to prepare for $300 million in reductions
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri’s state departments are looking into ways to tighten the proverbial belt in advance of the 2019 fiscal year’s budget, at the request of the top officials in the Governor’s Office. And it seems to be an indicator of what remains to come in future years.
In an email, obtained by the Missouri Times through a Sunshine request, sent to the heads of the state departments and members of the Cabinet, the state’s chief operating officer, Drew Erdmann, thanked the departments for their first response to a call for “potential reductions.”
“However, we have a long way to go,” he wrote. “Your first wave yielded ~$108 million in potential additional reductions. We need to prepare for ~$300 million of additional reductions given our Missouri tax revenue situation and the prospects of federal tax reform and rising mandatory expenses (especially in healthcare). And we will continue to face these pressures in the years ahead.
“This is our new normal.”
Before taking office, Governor Eric Greitens had run on a platform of change, promising to reduce the size of government and cut back on spending in addition to reducing the “red tape” and decreasing taxes.
Read more: https://themissouritimes.com/47311/greitens-coo-tells-cabinet-to-prepare-for-300-million-in-reductions/
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