Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Steve Peoples
JOURNAL STATE HOUSE BUREAU

PROVIDENCE -- Barely two months have passed since Governor Carcieri signed a state budget packed with controversial cuts he said would close Rhode Island's largest deficit in nearly two decades.

But already, another painful budget process has begun.

The governor's office is projecting an $83 million deficit for the budget year that begins July 1, 2009. And tens of millions of dollars in current-year cuts have yet to be implemented, suggesting that the hole may grow substantially in the coming months.

Carcieri has issued formal instructions to department heads outlining across-the-board 8 percent cuts in state spending. And he is planning to freeze local aid - including education aid - to cities and towns at this year's level.

"None of this is going to be happy news to the citizens and taxpayers of cities and towns," said Dan Beardsley, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, adding that many municipalities are already dealing with "dismal budget forecasts and school deficits."

Each fall, the governor issues formal budget instructions to department heads outlining spending targets. The instructions are the first step in a long process that will end with the passage of a new state budget by the General Assembly next June.

But Carcieri has never before announced his intention to freeze local aid this early in the process, according to the governor's Budget Officer Rosemary Booth Gallogly.

"This is a departure from past practice," Gallogly wrote in an Aug. 20 letter to cabinet members. "The governor's decision to level fund local aid is a further indication of his belief that local governments need to take similar actions to achieve lower expenditure growth."
In a subsequent interview, she said it was important to be direct with municipal leaders.

"It didn't seem prudent to show that we could afford local aid," she said. "This is an early warning sign that we're still not in a position to give a significant amount of aid to locals."

 Tags  budget cuts deficit

Comments

Dan said:

Well, at least King Don isn't going to blindside local communities like he did this year (or will he?) leaving everyone to scramble. That doesn't mean he won't do it again when the supplemental budget comes up to cover the shortfall in this years budget to make up for the economy tanking and the "make a wish" budget that King Don and the "free healthcare" General Assembly passed. That budget was DOA before it went into effect even without the Council 94 mess.

Link | September 5, 2008 2:33 PM
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