Balancing The Budget on A Budget

Lawmakers are looking for ways to balance the state’s budget during an almost impossible economic year. MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports.

Because of the sour economy lawmakers say the state is about 402 million dollars in the hole. According to Lt. Governor Phil Bryant that's revenue the state thought it would have a year ago. Bryant says one thing that may help ease the burden is the American Recover and Reinvestment Act.

“We’ll see how much revenue that will generate and how to spread that money out and not waste any of it and have total transparency in it. And of course it will be a help on the state level. There are some concerns about how we go about using the money, what strings are attached and then of course what debt burden it’s gonna put on the federal government. So while we might be using it here to benefit our local government and even our general fund there is a price to pay as we look ahead as we look at deficits.”

Mississippi stands to gain about 2.8 billion dollars from the so called stimulus package. nearly one billion of that will go towards the state’s general fund. But with all the state is up against, will the stimulus package be enough to do what needs to be done? Representative Cecil Brown of Jackson.

“It’s gonna be tough even if we’re able to pass a cigarette tax and an assessment on the hospitals. If we’re not able to do that, I’m not sure what’s gonna happen. I’m very concerned about the universities and community colleges. I think we’ll be able to fully fund the MAEP program. And we’re very short on money the economy’s been devastating. But the stimulus money itself is not gonna pull us out of the hole. Most of that money is dedicated to specific programs. It’s certainly gonna help in the local community. But there’s no easy answers to this and we’re certainly gonna see some big cuts coming.”

A small group of Mississippi lawmakers will be at the Capitol next week to restart their stalled discussions about a cigarette tax increase. For MPB news, I'm Lawayne Childrey.