Gov warns: State revenue picture not as rosy as usual
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Sep 21, 2007 Posted by Bill Luckett
For pretty much this entire decade, state leaders have enjoyed revenues that significantly surpassed expectations. But Gov. Freudenthal says that won't be the case this year. Quoth the governor: "I don't believe that anyone should be expecting the kind of revenue in excess of projections, or what people call a surplus, this year," he said. "It's going to be a good, solid budget. But the kind of revenues over projections that we've become accustomed to, it's not going to be there."
The story points out that the state had roughly a $1.13 billion surplus heading into the 2006 budget session, a $1.5 billion surplus in 2004 and a $727 million surplus in 2002, according to Steve Sommers, budget and fiscal manager for the state Legislative Service Office.
There are at least a couple reasons why this is important to people who follow state government. First, obviously, is that if the governor's prediction is right, we won't be spoiled like we have in recent years. There might not be $400 million sitting in the checking account at the end of the upcoming budget session that we could use to build something like the Hathaway Scholarship Fund.
The second reason why the lack of a large surplus matters is that the last three budget sessions have been largely free of serious partisan animosity and other forms of mass discontent - in part because there has been enough money to go around to please most people. Sure, people usually didn't get everything they wanted, but they got a good share of it. Money can't buy happiness, but it seems to help keep people from getting bitter.
We should know more when the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) releases its October fiscal update. Then we can look forward to the release of the governor's budget proposal by Dec. 1. Hopefully, lawmakers and lobbyists will pay attention to the governor's warning and bring realistic expectations with them when they convene in Cheyenne next February.