State budget needs repairs that last - Star Tribune
January 06, 2010
Lori Sturdevant, Star Tribune, December 14, 2009
Payment delays, revenue speed-ups and other one-time accounting gimmicks are bound to tempt state lawmakers in coming months, as they attempt to close the $1.2 billion gap between spending and revenues that's developing in the current state budget.
But $3.8 billion in one-time measures are already at play in the current budget period, a legislative leadership panel was told Monday. Adding more would only widen a yawning budget gap projected for 2012-13. The projected cost of current state programs in 2012-13 is already 23.5 percent greater than the amount of the state's own (non-federal) resources it expects to spend in the current two-year budget period.
Those figures underscore an important aspect of the fiscal work that awaits the 2010 Legislature. The state Constitution requires that lawmakers balance the spending and revenue sides of the state's ledger.
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