• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

WyoFile

Indepth News about Wyoming People, Places & Policy. Wyoming news.

  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19
  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19

GOP calls budget cut ‘gradual,’ Dems a ‘cliff’

GOP calls budget cut ‘gradual,’ Dems a ‘cliff’

President of the Senate Phil Nicholas (R-Laramie) speaks at the podium during a press conference Friday, with Sen. Eli Bebout (R-Riverton), left, and Sen. Tony Ross (R-Cheyenne) looking on. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile)

February 19, 2016 by Dustin Bleizeffer Leave a Comment

Tweet
Share
Pin
Email
0 Shares
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Lawmakers are on track to cut millions out of the $3 billion state budget as they conclude the first half of the four-week 2016 budget session, according to estimates by the Republican majority of the Legislature.

The Senate and House are moving their own budget bills and will begin work next week to combine them into a single measure.

GOP leaders say their current drafts grant “super-flex” powers to the governor allowing state agencies to apply a “penny plan” — a 1 percent cut applied in 2017 and again in 2018 — as they see fit. The cut is on top of agency reductions in Gov. Matt Mead’s proposed budget, which included reductions in travel and contract services. The suite of cuts can be done “without any harm to any services,” Rep. Steve Harshman (R-Casper) said at legislative leadership press conference today.

He said the penny plan savings amount to about $27 million over two years. GOP legislative leaders say the idea is to apply a gradual decrease in appropriations to state agencies rather than allowing their budgets to fall off a cliff in coming years.

There’s no end in sight to the declining mineral market that shoulder’s the state’s budget, according to the state’s revenue forecast. To soften budget cuts for the 2017-18 biennium, lawmakers are dipping into the $1.8 billion Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, or so-called Rainy Day fund. But the overall changes so far tentatively trim the budget far beyond the state’s own projected revenue. Republicans say that’s because they want to prepare for a continuation of declining revenue beyond the 2017-18 biennium.

“That’s what drives me crazy,” said Rep. James Byrd (D-Cheyenne). He said he wasn’t in favor of the agency cuts submitted to the governor or Mead’s final budget proposal. Further cuts by the JAC were egregious, and now the legislative majority is “being overcome with the impending financial shortfalls, and making draconian cuts,” he told WyoFile earlier this week.

“I really despise the axiom that we’ve got to spread the pain across the board,” Byrd said. “No, no, no. We find the things that aren’t working and get rid of them. Or we find the things we can defer spending on.”

Correction: This story was updated on Feb. 22, 2016 to correct how the 1 percent “penny plan” is applied to state agency budgets. — Ed


Popular Articles:


Lummis, Eathorne responses to insurrection are delusional


Lawmakers defied mask orders at session kick-off in Capitol


State Capitol locked down as D.C. delegation condemns riots


Filed Under: Capitol Beat, Columns/Blogs, Legislature, Legislature 2016, Politics

Dustin Bleizeffer

About Dustin Bleizeffer

Dustin Bleizeffer has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for 20 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy industry in Wyoming. Most recently he was Communications Director at the Wyoming Outdoor Council, a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford, and WyoFile editor-in-chief. He lives in Casper. You can reach him at (307) 267-3327, [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @DBleizeffer.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to join the discussion? Fantastic, here are the ground rules:
- Identify yourself with full name and city. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish and expects commenters to do the same.
- No personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats. Keep it clean, civil and on topic.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Tweets by @WyoFile

Search WyoFile

Become an Underwriter
Sign Up for Free Weekly Newsletters

Recent Comments

  • Rock McEwen on Lummis, Eathorne responses to insurrection are delusional
  • Susie Stevenson on Lawmakers defied mask orders at session kick-off in Capitol
  • S. Doris Smith on Lawmakers defied mask orders at session kick-off in Capitol
  • S. Doris Smith on Lawmakers defied mask orders at session kick-off in Capitol
  • Chuck Davis on Lawmakers defied mask orders at session kick-off in Capitol

Footer

Recent Posts By Date

January 2021
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Dec    

From The Archives

  • About Us
  • People
  • Careers
  • Freelancing
  • Underwriting
  • How to Republish
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2021 by WyoFile