Norman — Last month’s legislative tussle over a few million dollars for the state’s senior nutrition program will look like child’s play compared to the negotiations we expect for next year’s total state budget.
The legislature now will begin to build a budget for the fiscal year which begins July 1 with about $1.2 billion less to spend than last year. Agency budgets will need to be cut about 10 percent, even after using some rainy day funds and federal stimulus dollars.
“If we use all those reserves, we are still facing a 10 percent cut for everyone, every agency,” House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, told the Associated Press. “I say that to show how daunting the task is that we have before us.”
The governor and legislative leaders have pledged to make the cuts softer on education, transportation and public safety. That would mean harder choices for other state agencies like mental health and human services.
One way to stop the bleeding would be to adopt one or more of the revenue-raising measures Gov. Henry proposed to lawmakers. Those include some fee hikes, agency consolidations, revenue raising, moratoriums on some tax credits and collections of Internet sales taxes.
Most lawmakers don’t want an election-year tax increase on their campaign record. Core services will suffer but their record will remain intact.
