Governor Landry has ordered a temporary hiring freeze for the executive branch of state government. In a statement, Landry’s office says the goal is to save $20 million dollars in the general fund. In a statement, Landry’s office says the upcoming fiscal year’s budget was prepared using a standstill approach, removing one-time items and incorporating cost-saving measures. While the statement puts some of the blame on the prior administration that’s now been out of office for more than a year, political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says changes to the tax law may have had something to do with it.
“They did raise a sales tax and cut the income tax. I guess they’re not confident that they are going to have the necessary funds to fund the entire budget,” Pinsonat said.
Pinsonat says work had already been underway on how to shave money off the state budget.
“They have the ability to cut the budget if we have a shortfall. When you cut the budget though, it depends on what you are cutting. You have a lack of revenue on state employees, so you have to do that,” Pinsonat said.
Landry says part of the reason for the hiring freeze is the failure of Amendment 2 at the ballot box. Pinsonat says that has an indirect effect on state revenues.
“The failure of the Amendments was really the change of the tax code and codified into the Constitution. If that has effects on the overall revenue, then the Governor would have no choice,” Pinsonat said.
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