Louisiana’s budget woes are even worse than the incoming administration of Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards had anticipated, with an estimated shortfall of up to $750 million that must be closed by the end of June, a top aide to Edwards warns today.
Jay Dardenne, Edwards’ chief fiscal adviser, told reporters that the incoming administration hasn’t settled on a plan for fixing the problems with the current fiscal year’s $25 billion budget, The Associated Press reports. But Dardenne adds Edwards hasn’t ruled out tax increases, which would need legislative approval.
“All the options are on the table for everything,” Dardenne said during his first press briefing since Edwards picked him to serve as commissioner of the Division of Administration.
Dardenne says the Edwards administration projects a total estimated shortfall of $1.9 billion for the next fiscal year, which starts in July.
“This is the clear view, the true picture of where we are today. It is not pretty. It is not sugarcoated. It’s just the facts,” Dardenne says.
In response to Dardenne’s announcement, the Committee of 100 for Economic Development says it is working to find fiscal options based on sound financial practices to propose to the administration.
“The worsening condition of the state budget does not allow for us to simply ‘cut our way out’ of these budget problems in this time frame. We are past the stage of political rhetoric. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue—this is a Louisiana challenge,” C100 Chairman Tom Clark says in a prepared statement.
Edwards, a Democrat who won the runoff election for governor in November, will be sworn into office on Jan. 11. He inherits the state’s budget problems from Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican who mounted a failed presidential bid and refused to support anything he considered a net tax increase and leaned on short-term budget fixes.
Dardenne says Edwards is committed to ending the state’s “overusage of one-time revenue and budget gimmicks that have been used to balance this budget.”
“We’re blowing away the smoke and breaking the mirrors regarding the state budget,” he says. “We’re committed to stabilizing the budget and structurally changing the way Louisiana handles its budgetary obligations to our citizens.”
