More State Budget Cuts Announced
On Wednesday, Gov. Jay Nixon announced an additional $200 million in state budget cuts. The cuts come in the wake of low state revenue numbers for the first quarter of the fiscal year. In early October, the director of revenue’s office announced that the state had taken in nearly 10 percent less in revenues than it had during the previous year.
The largest cuts came from Medicaid ($32.45 million for “cost containment”), the Department of Public Safety ($33 million for employee cuts and shifting costs to other agencies), making fewer building repairs ($20 million), K–12 transportation ($15.8 million), and nearly all of the funds allotted to the Life Sciences Research Board ($13 million).
A full spreadsheet of the budget cuts can be downloaded here.
The governor’s announced cuts today amount to a small fraction of the $23 billion budget for the year, totaling less than 1 percent. If the current trend in decreased tax revenues continues, the state will likely have to make more cuts in the future.
