Six weeks before the next state budget goes into effect, the state budget office delivers bad news: state income is going to be an estimated $350 million short of the amount the legislature proposes to spend.
State budget director Linda Luebbering says the legislature’s failure to pass some of the “Rebooting Missouri” government efficiency bills leaves an 89-million dollar hole in the budget lawmakers approved two weeks before the session ended.. She says budget-writers also assumed some federal funds could be used inappropriately and that the Medicaid caseload would decrease. She says those things might not be erroneous after all, but that’s not something that can be counted on going into the new year July 1.
The biggest bite is in state tax collections. She thinks they’ll run about 200-million dollars less than the legislature hoped they would be.
Governor Nixon is studying the budget bills. He’ll announce vetoes and withholdings within the next six weeks.
Bob Priddy interviews Linda Luebbering 2:34 mp3
