Blunt Prepares For State Budget

One of the first big jobs the new Governor will have is to decide how to divvy up about $19-Billion among hundreds of state agencies. Planning for a new state budget began months ago, well before Bob Holden learned he would not be the one putting a proposed spending plan before the Legislature in January. One of Matt Blunt’s biggest jobs will be re-shaping that plan. Slightly more than two weeks after he’s inaugurated, he’ll lay his plan before the General Assembly. He says it will focus on greater efficiency – and that will mean fewer employees in a state government that already has lost several thousand workers in three years of tight budgets. Blunt has come out against any tax increases, even for education. He thinks a new system of school funding can be created without a tax hike, and he hopes a judge does not order the state to increase taxes to better finance public schools.