Safety-net hospitals, public colleges and local sheriffs housing state prisoners could face cuts, while the opening of Louisiana’s new youth prison facility could be delayed if the state’s income projections come up short this year.
Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration presented its first ideas for up to $60 million in cuts it would suggest if Louisiana faces a midyear deficit. The three-page spreadsheet was sent to lawmakers with a caveat the proposals could change—but agencies are planning, just in case.
“These are not cuts that we would ever want to make,” Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, Edwards’ budget adviser, told lawmakers. “We hope we don’t get to this point.”
Fearing the state operating budget spends too much money and could set Louisiana up for another round of midyear cuts, lawmakers asked Dardenne to devise a plan for holding back $60 million from state agencies.
On the chopping block: $20.5 million from the health department, with a $17.5 million cut levied on private operators of the state-owned charity hospitals and clinics. Public colleges, which had escaped cuts for the first time in years, would lose $12.7 million. The TOPS college tuition program would be spared.
