It's that time of year again; one by one, states are passing their budgets for the next fiscal year which will begin this summer (for most of them). Shortfalls still loom for some while others have used a variety of tools to balance their books. Some states have taxed, others have cut, and still others have just gotten creative with their accounting.

As a result of cooperation between the legislature and governor that is rare for the state, New York's Legislature passed their first on-time budget in five years. The spending plan, sent to the governor's desk early this morning, relies on deep cuts to avoid borrowing and meet Cuomo's goal of avoiding tax increases. Legislators worked on the budget past 1 AM, facing a tense night with intense protests over the severe cuts.

New York isn't the only state that's had to cut programs left and right; Florida is facing a similar situation. Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $66.5 billion budget on March 30 that included deep cuts in education, health care and other services. Legislators acknowledge that there aren't any "winners" in this year's budget, but prefer hard cuts to new taxes.

Though California has yet to resolve the full magnitude of their massive shortfall, Governor Brown signed legislation on March 24 to close $11.2 billion of the $26 billion deficit. Though the governor would like to shore up at list part of the remaining gap with tax extensions, his efforts have been more or less confounded thus far. Just two days ago, it was announced that Budget talks in California had broken down.

Other states seem to be less serious about tackling budget issues head-on. Maine has state budget shortfall of $31.9 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011. The Governor proposed a supplemental budget relying primarily on fund transfers to solve the deficit. Maryland's House passed $14.6 billion budget which eliminates their state budget shortfall of $1.6 billion for FY 2011-12 by dramatically increasing various fees.  The new budget is actually a $1.4 billion increase over the current budget.  

At least one state is turning to the private sector for help. Minnesota is considering "pay for performance" bonds that would pay investors a 4 percent return on investment. The state would use the money to pay nonprofit providers that provide job training, help addicts kick their habits, or other such services-but only if they produced specific results that would save the state money.  Under the Minnesota plan, nonprofits carry the risk. The investors get their return on investment no matter what, but nonprofits get paid only if they succeed.  Philanthropy.com. March 24, 2011.

Latest budget shortfall projections

• Arizona: $763.6 million through June 30, 2011 and another $1.2 billion for FY 2011.Governor's Budget. January 2011
• California: $14 billion through June 2012. Washington Post. March 17, 2011.
• Colorado: $450 million.KWGN.March 18, 2011
• Connecticut: $3.67 billion.The CT Mirror.January 25, 2011
• Delaware: $216.4 million.Delawareonline.com January 28, 2011
• Florida: $3.75 billion. Miami Herald. March 18, 2011
• Georgia:$1.5 billion.Savannahnow.com. February 6, 2011.
• Hawaii: $1 billion (FY 2011-13).Sen. Baker, Lahaina News.com. March 24, 2011
• Idaho: $92 million (FY 2011-12)Bloomberg.com. February 18,2011
• Illinois: $13 billion (FY 2010-11) WSJ.January 12, 2011
• Iowa: $700 million (FY 2011-12). Bloomberg.com. December 22, 2010.
• Kansas: $492 million (FY 2011-12). Nebraska.TV. March 4, 2011
• Louisiana: $1.6 billion FOX 8. December 30, 2010
• Maine: $31.9 million. (FY 2010-11) The Republic. March 28, 2011.
• Maryland: $1.6 billion (FY 2011-12) Baltimore Citybizlist.March 24, 2011
• Massachusetts:Up to $1.5 billion.Telegram.com. Masslive.com January 17, 2011
• Michigan:$1.4 billion (FY 2011-12)Shootonline.com. February 20, 2011
• Minnesota:$5.03 billion (FY 2012-13),Twin Cities Daily Planet. March 3, 2011.
• Mississippi:$634 million. Thegovmonitor.com. November 16, 2010.
• Missouri: $1 billion.Kansas City Business Journal. August 5, 2010.
• Montana: $388 million (FY 2011-12). Bloomberg Businessweek. October 8, 2010.
• Nebraska: More than $1 billion (FY 2011-13) Action3news.com. January 6, 2011
• Nevada:$2.2 billion.Examiner.com. February 7, 2011
• New Hampshire:$800 million. Sentinelsource.com. September 22, 2010.
• New Jersey: $10.5 billion (FY 2011-12).Blogs.APP.Com. July 22, 2010.
• New Mexico:$452 million).Bloomberg Busineeweek.com.November 11, 2010.
• New York: $10 billion NY Times. March 27, 2011
• North Carolina: $2.4 billion (FY 2011-12) and $2 billion (FY 2012-13)The TimesNews.com.February 20, 2011.
• Ohio: $8 billion (FY 2011-13) Foxnews.com. March 1, 2011.Oklahoma $600 million (FY 2011-12) kfor.com. February 7, 2011
• Oregon: $3.5 billion (FY 2011-13). NRToday.November 23, 2010.
• Pennsylvania: $4 - 5 billion (FY 2011-12). The Philadelphia Inquirer. December 17, 2010.
• Rhode Island:$290 million (FY 2011-12)). Brown Daily Herald.March 3, 2011.
• South Carolina: $829 million (FY 2011-12). GoUPstate.com. January 7, 2011
• Tennessee: $1 billion. WSMV.com. January 31, 2011
• Texas: $15 billion. Chron.com. Jan. 18, 2011.
• Utah: $700 million. KCPW. December 11, 2010.
• Vermont: $112 million (FY 2012-13).5WPTZ.com. August 22, 2010.
• Virginia: $200 million (FY 2011-12). WashingtonExaminer.com. December 17, 2010.
• Washington: $5.3 billion for next 27 months.The Olympian.March 18, 2011.
• West Virginia: $150 -$160 million (FY 2011-12). Charleston Gazette. June 7, 2010.
• Wisconsin: $137 million (FY 2010-11) and 3.6 billion. (FY 2011-12).JSOnline.com. March 10, 2011 and WUWM.com. March 31, 2011.

Filed Under : Budget Gimmicks, Spending Cuts, Tax Increases

Post Your Comment Here

First Name *
Last Name *
E-mail *
Response *
Enter the characters as they appear in the box to the right *
	* = Required