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While this year’s state budget was lean, next year’s will be even leaner, one local lawmaker warns.
On Thursday, the Missouri General Assembly passed a $23.3 billion budget, with the Senate and House trimming nearly $500 million from the document. The passage came a week earlier than usual, local lawmakers said.
Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, told the Daily News Saturday night that while nearly $500 million was trimmed from this year’s state budget, next year’s budget could be even leaner: $900 million smaller as one-time revenues such as federal stimulus money dries up.
“It will be another session of tough choices next year,” Nodler said, “even tougher than this year. Some of what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to get the statutes changed. We have three or four bills coming up that have budget implications.
“Also, this is an opportunity to right-size government. When we have plenty of money, it’s difficult to get the legislature to cut down on the size of government. As difficult and painful as this process is, this is an opportunity to do some downsizing and it forces the legislatures to choose priorities. We can’t fund everything that’s good. A lot of programs are good, but we don’t have the money to fund every good idea.”
According to the Associated Press, the measures to “right-size” government include eliminating state holidays, combining the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the water patrol into one entity, and making changes to the state employee pensions system.
Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, said lawmakers weren’t confronted with funding important programs versus non-important ones, but with making the choice of funding critical programs versus important ones. He echoed Nodler’s sentiments about next year’s budget session being one of even tougher decisions than this year.
“We made tough decisions this year, but it will be even worse next year unless the economy drastically turns around,” he said.
Lawmakers cut a total of $484 million from the budget initially proposed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon in January. Wilson said he couldn’t single one decision out as being tougher than others.
“All of these decisions are tough because you’re talking about peoples’ lives,” he said.
Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, said she was comfortable with the cuts made, saying it was something the Legislature had to do.
“If we didn’t take a look at cuts this year, next year would be even more devastating,” she said.
While she said Missouri could have to trim an additional $900 million from next year’s budget, she said it may be less than that if the economy turns around. But, she cautioned, more cuts are in the future.
While this year’s state budget was lean, next year’s will be even leaner, one local lawmaker warns.
On Thursday, the Missouri General Assembly passed a $23.3 billion budget, with the Senate and House trimming nearly $500 million from the document. The passage came a week earlier than usual, local lawmakers said.
Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, told the Daily News Saturday night that while nearly $500 million was trimmed from this year’s state budget, next year’s budget could be even leaner: $900 million smaller as one-time revenues such as federal stimulus money dries up.
“It will be another session of tough choices next year,” Nodler said, “even tougher than this year. Some of what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to get the statutes changed. We have three or four bills coming up that have budget implications.
“Also, this is an opportunity to right-size government. When we have plenty of money, it’s difficult to get the legislature to cut down on the size of government. As difficult and painful as this process is, this is an opportunity to do some downsizing and it forces the legislatures to choose priorities. We can’t fund everything that’s good. A lot of programs are good, but we don’t have the money to fund every good idea.”
According to the Associated Press, the measures to “right-size” government include eliminating state holidays, combining the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the water patrol into one entity, and making changes to the state employee pensions system.
Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, said lawmakers weren’t confronted with funding important programs versus non-important ones, but with making the choice of funding critical programs versus important ones. He echoed Nodler’s sentiments about next year’s budget session being one of even tougher decisions than this year.
“We made tough decisions this year, but it will be even worse next year unless the economy drastically turns around,” he said.
Lawmakers cut a total of $484 million from the budget initially proposed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon in January. Wilson said he couldn’t single one decision out as being tougher than others.
“All of these decisions are tough because you’re talking about peoples’ lives,” he said.
Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, said she was comfortable with the cuts made, saying it was something the Legislature had to do.
“If we didn’t take a look at cuts this year, next year would be even more devastating,” she said.
While she said Missouri could have to trim an additional $900 million from next year’s budget, she said it may be less than that if the economy turns around. But, she cautioned, more cuts are in the future.
The legislature spread cuts this year across state programs, but the highest-profile cuts came in basic education programs, the Associated Press reported Thursday evening. While the state’s education funding called for an additional $100 million, school funding will remain about the same for K-12 schools. Districts will receive less state aid for busing, the Parents as Teachers program’s budget was slashed nearly in half to $13 million, but the budget kept funding for the $37 million Career Ladder program, which pays teachers extra money for extra work.
“We felt like it was a moral obligation,” Wilson said. “The work had already been done by the teachers. The program may, the following year, be gone, but at least teachers have the opportunity to know about it ahead of time.”
“We knew from Day 1 that we wanted to try to do that,” Ruestman said. “Parents as Teachers, we cut, but not as badly as we thought we had to. But overall, I’m pretty pleased with the education budget. There was no way we could add another $100 million to the education budget, and everybody knew that going in.”
Nodler and Ruestman mentioned California, New York, Illinois and Florida as states bankrupt from years of deficit spending, something Missouri hasn’t had to contend with since the state constitution mandates a balanced budget. Nodler said with the passage of the budget, Missouri was “fiscally sound,” but warned of leaner times in the future.
“I say ‘fiscally sound,’ but that doesn’t mean we are comfortable or have excessive funds,” Nodler said. “Missouri is as strapped for cash as other places, and we were forced to cut other priorities and services, but we’re relatively strong compared with other states in the country.”
In a prepared statement, Nixon praised the bi-partisan budget effort, saying the document “controls spending while investing in critical priorities, such as education, health care and public safety.”
“Because of those efforts, and despite the historic challenges we have faced, we have passed a fiscally responsible budget without raising taxes and without raising college tuition for Missouri students for a second year in a row,” he said. “This responsible, stable approach stands in stark contrast to the volatile and drastic decisions being made in other states.
“As most legislators know, passing these budget bills is an important step, but it will not fully solve Missouri’s fiscal challenges this year. The opportunities for cost-savings truly depend on the passage of numerous additional bills that will right-size, restructure and refocus state government. It is vital that the legislature send those measures to my desk. Over the next two weeks, my administration will continue to work with the General Assembly in a bipartisan fashion to pass these important reforms. That’s the optimal way to make sure the people of Missouri have a government that protects our vital priorities and a government we can afford.”
Nixon plans to review the budget line by line to see if additional cuts can be made. The governor has the authority to veto budget line items, but cannot add appropriations to the budget.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
