Louisiana’s budget deficit from last year was worsened because $12 million in fund transfers that had been planned to plug holes weren’t made, The Associated Press reports.
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration hasn’t released the size of the gap from the fiscal year that ended June 30. Numbers will be unveiled to lawmakers in mid-October. But the administration has acknowledged Louisiana closed the books in the red, driven partly by higher-than-expected use of tax refunds and credits.
Also apparently a problem: $12 million that was to be “swept” from various funds across state agencies and spent elsewhere never happened.
Treasurer John Kennedy’s office says it couldn’t move the money because dollars weren’t in the funds. Jindal’s Division of Administration says Kennedy waited too long to make the transfers, after agencies had depleted the funds.
The Jindal administration could opt to leave the budget-balancing needed to address the deficit to the next administration. Jindal is term-limited and cannot run again. His successor, to be chosen this fall, will take office in January.
Louisiana has faced repeated budget shortfalls during Jindal’s two terms in office, a combination of the economic downturn and the cost of tax breaks that have siphoned more dollars away from the state treasury than expected. Rather than match state spending to income, the governor and lawmakers have raided savings accounts, sold property and used other short-term fixes to patch together budgets. But that creates new gaps each year.
House Speaker Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, has said he wants the state’s income forecasting panel to meet, likely in November, to review tax collections and determine what holes exist. He says some other tax collections may be stronger than expected, lessening the impact of the oil price slump.
