The Revenue Estimating Conference met Tuesday to determine just how many millions short the state’s budget will be for the current fiscal year.
“Somewhere between 257 [million] and 464 [million] is a real adjustment that will need to be made,” explained Speaker of the House Taylor Barras (R-New Iberia).
That's in addition to the $313 million shortfall in last year's budget, both of which must be accounted for by June 30th, the end of this fiscal year.
Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego) warned that the longer the state waits to make that adjustment, the worse it gets.
The REC consists of Speaker Taylor Barras, Senate President John Alario, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne and LSU Economist Dr. Jim Richardson.
Dr. Richardson made a motion to get another month of revenue collections in before recognizing the shortfall. Given the $207 million difference between the two outlooks, "waiting essentially thirty days may be the more prudent thing to do as you start trying to plan out the cuts," Richardson suggested to Commissioner Dardenne.
Dardenne disagreed.
“The bad news is here," said Dardenne, "it is upon us. There is no question that we are suffering a severe decline from our anticipated revenue. So much so that it ought to necessitate some action by this estimating conference to deal with reality.”
Until the REC recognizes the shortfall, no actions can be taken to fix it. Alario wants the state agencies to have as much time as possible to implement the needed cuts.
“We need to certainly alert not only the Legislature but all agencies in the state that you better get ready in January, because cuts are coming,” said Alario, adding "the longer we wait, the worse it gets."
With Richardson and the House Speaker wanting to wait, Commissioner Dardenne and the Senate President preferring to act, the required unanimous vote from the REC was an impossibility.
House Speaker Taylor Barras suggested a month’s delay might improve the forecast.
“I’m of the opinion that any $20, $30, $40 million goodness we find between now and then is even less that we have to address," he explained.
Commissioner Dardenne was clearly frustrated with the procrastination and said as much.
“What we’re doing today is just turning a blind eye to reality.”