Associated Press
AP
JACKSON — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Wednesday made his fifth round of budget cuts since the fiscal year started last summer, and he warned lawmakers to be cautious as they write a spending plan for the coming year. Also, months after submitting a proposed budget that would spend 100 percent of expected revenue in the year that begins July 1, Barbour reversed himself and said he’ll try to block any plan that spends every penny. Faced with a weak economy and anemic tax collections, the Republican governor and lawmakers from both parties agreed the past few years to ignore a state law enacted in the early 1990s. The law says no more than 98 percent of projected revenues should be used writing a budget, with the other 2 percent going into a rainy day fund. “If the Legislature, both houses, pass legislation to void or avoid the 98 percent rule, I would veto it,” Barbour told reporters Wednesday at the Capitol. His veto threat puts pressure on House and Senate negotiators, who face a March 24 deadline to reach a compromise budget for the coming year. Some lawmakers say they’re unlikely to meet the deadline. House Democrats, in particular, want to wait a few weeks to see if Mississippi might receive millions more dollars in federal stimulus money. They say an injection of cash could help head off deep cuts to education and other programs. “I think a short session is over. It went out the window this morning,” Democratic Rep. George Flaggs of Vicksburg, who’s on the budget-writing committee, said Wednesday. “There’s no way we will agree on not utilizing the 2 percent or not using some other option.” Legislators are already months into the budgeting process. With the economy still weak and the rate of recovery uncertain, both chambers have given initial approval to waiving the 98 percent rule. Asked why he’s reversing his position on spending all available revenue, Barbour chuckled. “I’ve learned my lesson,” said the governor, noting that state revenues have fallen short of expectations for 18 consecutive months. Barbour trimmed $41 million from the current budget Wednesday, and those cuts should be spread evenly across most state programs. He has now cut $499.5 million from what started last summer as a nearly $6 billion budget. Earlier this month, lawmakers and the governor restored $86 million by dipping into financial reserves and using federal stimulus money. With all five rounds of cuts and the one restoration, the budget is $413.5 million below where it started last summer. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee met Wednesday and argued before agreeing to set a new estimate of how much money will be available in the coming year. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee of Tupelo, a Republican who’s running for a north Mississippi congressional seat, tried to persuade the committee to shave $90 million off the revenue estimate to make it more conservative. That effort failed. All six senators and Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant voted for it, while all seven House members on the committee voted against it. The proposal needed at least four “yes” votes from each chamber. State economist Phil Pepper told lawmakers Wednesday that experts expect Mississippi’s economy to see slow growth in the coming year. “It’s a fragile recovery,” Pepper said.
