$56.8 Million Mistake in Budget

Mississippi legislative leaders say they overestimated how much money the state could collect during the coming budget year, a nearly $60 million shortfall to be exact. News 25’s Shelby Myers has more.
In a statement, Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves and House Speaker Phillip Gunn attributed the $56.8 million shortfall to a quote “staff error.” It is about a one percent mistake in a $5.8 billion general fund.
Republicans Reeves and Gunn say no immediate action is needed. The shortfall could balance out if tax collections exceeded expectations the first half of fiscal year 2017 or budgets could be cut or the state could pull money from its reserves, an idea Democratic Representative David Baria tells News 25 is not ideal for the state, especially after Governor Phil Bryant has already made two rounds of budget cuts during the current budget year. “I think it’s unfortunate that our leaders are blaming staff for this when ultimately everybody understands where the responsibility lies when you make a mistake like this. My colleagues across the aisle are always saying we should run government like a business. Well, just imagine if this was a business, what would happen to the CEO of this business if they made a $60 million mistake in their annual budget?” said Baria.
Baria also took to his Twitter and responded to Lt. Governor Reeves and Speaker Gunn’s idea to correct the mistake by taking from reserve funds. He says: “That’s funny. When we asked if money could be taken from the rainy day fund for MAEP, it was a huge deal.”