Thursday, July 16, 2009
State Budget Blues Continue
The General Assembly’s top fiscal advisor warned legislative leaders that the state’s budget for the current fiscal year (FY 2010) could be out of balance by as much as $700 million and called for a coordinated and prompt executive and legislative response to address the problem. Although the state’s FY 2009 close out numbers will not be known until mid-August, he predicted that the year will barely finish in the black – down from an earlier budgeted $437 million cushion. That shortfall, combined with a continued deterioration in state revenue collections will require significant state budget cuts for the current year and a $1.5 billion budget gap to be resolved for FY 2011. Governor O’Malley has announced that he will bring new budget cuts to the Board of Public Works on July 22.
See a copy of Deschenaux’s letter here. You can also read Comptroller Peter Franchot’s letter on state revenues here. Contact Ron Wineholt for further information at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) .
