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Comptroller: Further cuts needed to state budget |
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Friday, 21 November 2008 |
SCBIZ Daily Staff
COLUMBIA -- With low revenue numbers still coming in, state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom believes the Budget and Control Board should meet again soon to enact further across-the-board cuts.
To the other four members of the board, Eckstrom wrote: “It is probable that further budget reductions will be necessary as the remainder of the fiscal year progresses. The sooner the board acts on required cuts, the more flexibility state agencies will have for adjusting their budgets over a longer portion of the year.”
The next scheduled meeting of the board is Dec. 11. It does not have the authority to target its cuts; it is allowed only to make across-the-board cuts when necessary.
On Nov. 7, the Board of Economic Advisors lowered its estimate of state revenue for the current year for the second time. It projected that the budget still would be 1.9% short, a gap of $103 million.
The yearly revenue projection is now 9.5% below the numbers the Legislature used to write the budget, a difference of $689 million, according to Les Boles, director of the State Budget Office.
The Budget and Control Board passed a 3% across-the-board cut in August, and the Legislature returned in October to make $488 million in new cuts. State agencies have turned to service cuts, layoffs and mandatory furloughs to deal with the shortfalls.
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