More state budget cuts coming... $171 million midyear cut, over $1 Billion next year

[Dawg06]

Budget shortfall after budget shortfall... 7th straight midyear budget shortfall.

Cut, Jindal, cut!


This marks the 6th time in the last 7 years for midyear budget cuts in Louisiana with higher education and healthcare taking the brunt of it...

And more coming next year... "Still, next year's budget -- which was already projected to require over a billion dollars in cuts -- is also in an even worse position than the state originally thought, according to the latest revenue forecast."

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.s...b5b3bb60cf351f

[TechAlum05]

More fantastic news on a Friday afternoon.

[Dawg06]

More fantastic news on a Friday afternoon.

Jindal's accounting tricks like using one-time money to plug holes and switching funds around borrowing from other accounts are finally catching up to him. Cue the out-of-staters and right wing extremists to come in to tell us how great a governor Bobby Jindal is.

[TechAlum05]

Jindal's accounting tricks like using one-time money to plug holes and switching funds around borrowing from other accounts are finally catching up to him. Cue the out-of-staters and right wing extremists to come in to tell us how great a governor Bobby Jindal is.

Not quite yet. Jindal only has to kick the can to January 2016 when he leaves office. Then, the budget woes will explode on the next governor who inherits Jindal's mess.

[RougeDawg]

Jindal's budgets remind me of Bicknell's halftime adjustments (and I voted for him twice).

http://louisianavoice.com/

As of Oct. 31 of this year, the general fund balance reflected a deficit of $924.6 million.

That’s just $75.4 million shy of $1 billion—and OGB alone is losing $16 million each month. And yes, the numbers will improve next spring but let’s look back just one year. As of Oct. 31, 2013, the balance reflected a deficit of $656.7 million. That’s nearly $268 million less in negative spending than for this year.

Still not convinced? Well, for Oct. 31, 2012, the deficit was $476.6 million, about $448 million less than for the same month in 2014. And while it was slightly higher at $565.2 million on Oct. 31, 2011, the number for 2010 was only $181.5 million—almost three-quarters of a billion dollars billion better than this year.

In five short years, the October deficit for the state general fund balance has increased fivefold.

“The historically high negative balance, which arrives just a few months into each new fiscal year (which begins on July 1), “is forcing fund borrowing to sustain cash flow,” Kennedy says. “It darkly foreshadows the challenge ahead for lawmakers and the governor in the 2015 regular session. A budget shortfall of at least $1.2 billion is expected, but it’s clearly a figure that could move. It also increases the likelihood of midyear budget cuts in the minds of some.”

And here is the rub that has Kennedy and Nichols crossing swords: Kennedy says to some lawmakers, “the negative balance is at a critical high because the state started the fiscal year with a deficit cash balance of $141 million and because expenses actually are greater than revenues,” Kennedy said. Nichols, however, vehemently disagrees, claiming instead that the administration stumbled upon some $320 million in extra cash from prior years lying around in agencies scattered across the state which she claims gives the state an actual surplus of nearly $179 million.

The problem she has, however, is that no one believes her—including two former commissioners of administration that LouisianaVoice interviewed, both of whom say it’s just not feasible that that much money could have been just lying around all these years without anyone’s knowing of its existence. Nichols, of course, has to maintain a brave face in order that her boss can saveface. You see, as Bob Mann points out in his latest posting on his blog Something Like the Truth, Jindal “must never have raised a tax” and “must never have presided over an unbalanced state budget” if he wishes to cling to any fading hopes of the GOP presidential nomination.

Jindal is piloting a sinking ship that he hopes can stay half-ass afloat until his term expires; and he knows this. His problem is he can't raise taxes (being on modern Team Republican) and he doesn't seem capable of cutting expenses. I believe the State has legitimate places to cut, but I have seen no sign of a strategic effort to do this. Maybe he is busy with the National politics . . . I can't figure it out. The real solution is probably a mixture of cuts and taxes; but we don't seem to have a party that believes in that. Unplanned socialism is the new America.

[Dawg06]

Not quite yet. Jindal only has to kick the can to January 2016 when he leaves office. Then, the budget woes will explode on the next governor who inherits Jindal's mess.

Yep. I saw this coming a mile away.

[Dawg06]

Jindal's budgets remind me of Bicknell's halftime adjustments (and I voted for him twice).

http://louisianavoice.com/



Jindal is piloting a sinking ship that he hopes can stay half-ass afloat until his term expires; and he knows this. His problem is he can't raise taxes (being on modern Team Republican) and he doesn't seem capable of cutting expenses. I believe the State has legitimate places to cut, but I have seen no sign of a strategic effort to do this. Maybe he is busy with the National politics . . . I can't figure it out. The real solution is probably a mixture of cuts and taxes; but we don't seem to have a party that believes in that. Unplanned socialism is the new America.

I voted for him three times. He's actually the only governor I've ever voted for. But I wouldn't even vote for him to serve on the school board now. The only vote I'd give him is to move him to Washington where he really wants to be and never touch Louisiana politics again. I thought he had so much potential, but it turns out his sights were fixated on Washington instead of fixing Louisiana.

[champion110]

I voted for him three times. He's actually the only governor I've ever voted for. But I wouldn't even vote for him to serve on the school board now. The only vote I'd give him is to move him to Washington where he really wants to be and never touch Louisiana politics again. I thought he had so much potential, but it turns out his sights were fixated on Washington instead of fixing Louisiana.

So, you would send him on to Washington?

[PawDawg]

I voted for him three times. He's actually the only governor I've ever voted for. But I wouldn't even vote for him to serve on the school board now. The only vote I'd give him is to move him to Washington where he really wants to be and never touch Louisiana politics again. I thought he had so much potential, but it turns out his sights were fixated on Washington instead of fixing Louisiana.

I did the same and also did it twice with Foster, who was not as bad, just a do nothing.

[Dawg06]

So, you would send him on to Washington?

That was a figurative vote. I will not cast a vote for him for any office ever again, and I want him out of Louisiana. I don't know of any other place he could go. His next job will probably be for some agency or department in DC.

[dawg80]

The recent adjustment to the state's OGB healthcare plan will now cost the state $56 million more annually and local school boards another $38 million. All to satisfy a special interest group with deep "lobbying" pockets, Retired State Employees Association. Current state employees get a double whamy while retirees get the benefits.

And of course, now that "stupid" (to borrow a libtard term) voters OKAYED Amends 1 & 2, where Oh where will the state balance the budget? Hmmmmm....?

.....on the backs of Higher Ed (again!)?

[dawg80]

So, you would send him on to Washington?

He's exactly.....well, I was gonna say he's exactly what DC needs, an executive who will slash the budget! That is still true. But, I'm not so sure, based on some of his decisions recently, if he'd slash the budget where it NEEDED cutting, and not somwehere else.

[RougeDawg]

He's exactly.....well, I was gonna say he's exactly what DC needs, an executive who will slash the budget! That is still true. But, I'm not so sure, based on some of his decisions recently, if he'd slash the budget where it NEEDED cutting, and not somwehere else.

I would love to see him in charge of a Department that needed to be abolished. ... I would start with FEMA, FHWA, or Education.