States are getting down to the nitty-gritty of budget cuts as they hack away millions of dollars in order to salvage their shortfalls. While some states are managing to balance their budget woes, others are still deliberating their budgets for the next fiscal year.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed next year's $8.3 billon budget into law, cutting programs by $1.1 billion-including social service programs. Brewer did not raise taxes nor borrow more, but debt still remains from previous years of borrowing. However, her program relies on shifting costs to local governments and postponing $1.3 billion in payments to state programs.

Florida's state Senate and House followed suite with Arizona by opting to pass massive spending cuts instead of raising taxes. Florida is left with a $4 billion revenue deficit, and, as a result, every state agency will feel some sort of cut. Health care, education and public safety agencies are among those that will be affected. The Senate and House are expected to settle on a final number on Monday, ranging between $66.5 billion and $69.8 billion (based on what each voted on).

While Alabama has a significantly smaller deficit than other states, Governor Robert Bentley still took action and declared a 15 percent proration for Alabama's general fund to solve the current fiscal year deficit. Alabama has a $100 million shortfall in the general fund's budget. Bentley said he prorated the general fund to protect certain agencies from budget cuts.

With a $5 billion deficit, Washington State is not only proposing to make enormous cuts, but is also turning to double-digit college tuition increases and privatization. House Democrats proposed to cut spending by $4.4 billion and privatize the state's wholesale liquor operation to raise $300 million. State universities would increase their tuition by 13 percent due to the $500 million of expected cuts.

Many states have opted to make the ugly cuts required in order to not raise taxes on their citizens. Washington State even took it a step further by just contemplating privatization. As of now, states are taking more of an initiative to sign their budget plans than the U.S. government is taking.

Latest budget projections:

• 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: State budget shortfall of $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: $2 billion  (FY 2012-13)
• 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 : Spending Cuts

Comment(s)

My son is serving 2 years of a 20 sentence for having the keys to a stolen car. Not driving it. And he was given the 20 years for crimes he had done 20 years ago in Fla and served his time for that then!! He hadn't done anything since! Now talk about cutting costs! Why have tax payers in Alabama pay for his housing for a non violent crime and also for what he already served time for!!

posted by : Yvonne
Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 01:48 PM  | Permalink

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