Louisiana’s Speaker of the House Taylor Barras, for a third month in a row, has blocked the Revenue Estimating Conference from recognizing additional revenue for the state budget, despite suggestions from economists. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne says the delay will prevent State Police from recruiting the next class of officers.
“The longer we wiat to adopt a revenue forecast, the longer it means we will get people on the street, new troopers on the street, new troopers to replace those retiring troopers.”
The four member REC requires unanimous consent to adopt a revenue forecast that is used to create the state budget.
And he expressed concern that the decision would exacerbate a budding public health epidemic that is crippling small Louisiana towns.
“We are not going to be in a position as a state where we can appoint fiscal administrators for these small communities in Louisiana who are having water system problems.”
The stalemate could hurt Governor Edwards’ proposal to provide teachers with a pay raise next fiscal year.
But Barras says the state does not known enough about the upcoming year’s state economy to make an accurate projection yet, and last year is a good example of how unpredictable that process can be. He says the state was projected to face a budget deficit last year that ultimately was overstated.
“We kept .45 of the sales tax penny, we ended that session in June, and three weeks later we had a 300 million dollar surplus that this conference did not predict, or adopt.”
The .45 percent sales tax renewal raised 463 million dollars.
