State Agencies Lay Out Funding Needs for 2011

A standing room only crowd filled part of Wednesday's legislative budget hearings

Community Colleges, Public Safety and Medicaid lay out funding
needs for 2011. MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports.

With a tight economy more people are relying on community colleges for retraining. At Wednesdays legislative budget hearings Eric Clark, Executive Director of the State Board of Community Colleges, asked lawmakers for at least 65 million dollars in funding. Clark says that money is need to keep up with the growing number of students.

" And we are glad of that but tuition and required fees that those students pay only amounts to about 27% of the cost of educating them. So we simply have to have the funding."

All levels of education were spared cuts from last year’s budget but that won't be the case this year. Nor is it the case for the department of public safety. Agency Director Stephen Simpson says his department is feeling the sting of two rounds of budget cuts.

"So we are asking to restore some monies that were lost. To restore some vacant positions that have been eliminated as a result of the cuts. We have asked them to fund over 8 million dollars for a trooper school. We have had over 71 troopers retire or leave the highway patrol since our last graduation in 2007."

While DPS is asking for a significant funding increase Division of Medicaid, Communications Director, Francis Rullan says his agency needs nearly 202 million dollars to cover an increase in people using the program and to replace one time federal stimulus money. Rullan says if lawmakers don't fully fund the program they will have to down size.

"Which means you get what you can pay for. You have to have the money to show the federal government so that they can give you the match. You have to be able to show that you have equal access in all of the Medicaid programs for all of the people who are eligible for that benefit."

This week lawmakers have heard request from some of the state’s largest agencies. But according Senator Billy Hewes of Gulfport their bottom line is still money.

"Just about every agency has great merit and they are making some significant request. But the fact is most of the request we're getting are in excess of the monies they had last year. And at this point in the budget we don't even have enough money to meet last year’s request."

Lawmakers will wrap up this early round of budget hearings today. For MPB News, I'm Lawayne Childrey.