The
State Budget
The
State 2008-2009 budget was 1.2 billion dollars in the red. Last tax
year
ended June 30th, 2008, and the state treasurer's office told us that
the
State would be out of money by the last week of May (2008).
Unfortunately the budget that eventually got passed borrowed the
shortfall
and will be paid back over many years along with interest.
The 2009-2010 budget is projected to
have a shortfall of between 1.8 and 2.0 billion dollars. We cannot
continue to borrow
that kind of money and stay solvent as a state. I am committed, in this
time of
economic uncertainty, not to burden families with additional taxes. I
have fought instead, to cut out spending that is wasteful, duplicative
or unneeded. We
will simply have to better prioritize the use of your hard earned tax
dollars.
I
feel that we
must address our state budget in three areas: the past; the present;
and
the future.
The
Past - We need to go back and look at our past spending and
eliminate all programs, grants and services that are
redundant,
ineffective, or do not fall within the purposes of government.
The
Present -
We need 'zero-based budgeting' which would require all state agencies
to
justify every dollar they ask for in their budget and not just the
increases
they are asking for.
The
Future -
Spending should be limited to grow at or below the population growth
rate
(plus inflation) so we don't have rampant over spending when the good
economic
times return.
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