Nixon’s Budget Cut $484 Million by Legislature

From today’s Joplin Globe (emphasis is mine):

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers finished off a more than $23.3 billion budget Thursday that cuts millions in state spending and trims the state’s payroll.

The budget bloodletting was spread across state programs, but the highest-profile cuts came in various education programs. Basic state funding for K-12 public school districts would remain the same even though Missouri’s school funding formula called for a more than $100 million increase. Schools also will receive less state aid for busing. And funding for the Parents as Teachers early childhood program would be cut by more than half to $13 million.

Spending on tourism was reduced, mental health and social services were trimmed and less was budgeted for twice-daily Amtrak passenger train service between St. Louis and Kansas City. Colleges and universities will get 5 percent less, but that preserves a deal in which the schools agreed to not raise tuition next year for undergraduates from Missouri.

In all, lawmakers cut $484 million from the budget initially proposed by Gov. Jay Nixon in January. Nixon said last month that $500 million needed to be trimmed from his initial suggestions because tax revenues have continued to fall and state officials are uncertain about whether Missouri will receive an extension of federal stimulus money.

“You don’t get any satisfaction in making those cuts knowing they impact people’s lives,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Rob Mayer, R-Dexter. “However, you also have to keep in mind that you have a responsibility as a state senator to put forward a budget that is balanced and keeps the state on good, solid financial ground in the future.”

Yet overall, the budget is about $188 million bigger than last year when federal money and other funding sources are counted. But there is several hundred million dollars less in general revenue that comes through things like state sales and income taxes.