12.10.09
Sales tax allocations stay down, causing future budgetary concerns
The sales tax numbers for Austin and Round Rock – as well as the state as a whole – continue their slide. Austin’s allocations are 8.73% lower this December than last, and down 10.64% for the year. Round Rock’s are even worse 21.76% for December and 12.43% for the year. (List of Top 20 cities in Texas allocations). For Williamson County cities as a whole allocations are down 17.05% in December and 9.91% for the year. (List of cities by county, scroll down until you see Williamson).
GOP Lt. Gov. Davide Dewhurst speaking in Waco yesterday, (tip to Comeandtakeitblog), appears to be willing to use the Rainy Day Fund (RDF) to balance the budget in 2011. He also wants most state agencies to cut their budgets by 2.5% to help balance the budget in 2013.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst discussed a proposal to cut state agency spending during the next 3 1/2 years, hoping to offset a budget deficit and projected shortfalls, during a visit to Waco on Wednesday.
The state’s structural budget deficit — the result of 2006 school property tax cuts that weren’t offset by business taxes — along with the bleak economy have contributed to a gloomy long-term financial outlook for Texas that spells trouble in 2013, Dewhurst said in a meeting with the Tribune-Herald editorial board.
A Republican who, as lieutenant governor, presides over the state Senate, Dewhurst said that by using the Rainy Day Fund lawmakers will be able to balance the state’s budget in 2011. But he said agency cutbacks are crucial to getting through the 2013 legislative session. The sooner cuts kick in, the better, he said.
“I’d rather start today so that any belt-tightening is smaller than if we wait around and sit on our hands,” Dewhurst said.
Dewhurst laid out a plan that would cut most state agencies’ budgets by 2.5 percent during 3 1/2 years to cover the projected budget shortfall in 2013 and give the state’s economy time to pull out of the recession. He said his plan would spare public education and health and human services programs.
The Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) contends that the RDF will be insufficient to balance the budget in 2010, and they “..urged our federal officials to provide additional state fiscal stabilization to avoid cuts to critical state functions such as public education.
Dewhurst has a plan, he deserves credit for that. All candidates running for office in Texas in 2010 must address the upcoming budgetary concerns facing Texas in the next several years.