A Budget Built on a House of Cards?

Mar 31, 2017

By MBPC Staff

Today, the legislative fiscal division (LFD) released its weekly general fund status sheet, providing us a glimpse at where we stand with general fund revenue, projected spending, and the resulting ending fund balance. As the legislature takes actions on bills, including HB 2, LFD updates the status sheet to reflect these changes in spending and revenue bills. This past week, the Senate Finance & Claims Committee took action on HB 2, adding back some of the cuts made in the House. In total, the Committee restored about $10 million in general funds, $32 million in state special revenue, and $12 million in federal funds. The status sheet answers a big question: is restoration of these cuts sustainable under the current levels of revenue? The answer: no. As of today, legislative fiscal division estimates an ending fund balance of $154 million at the end of the next biennium. The status sheets factors in SB 354 to raise the tobacco tax, which passed the Senate this week. This measure raises nearly $69 million in general fund revenue, but still needs to pass the House to become a reality. Even factoring passage of SB 354, we are $145 million below the Governor’s requirement of a $300 million ending fund balance. The ending fund balance is important because it is Montana’s only mechanism for protecting against revenue volatility and unexpected emergencies. This is Montana’s savings account. Those who have been worried about the budget cuts – including cuts to Medicaid services for seniors and people with disabilities, cuts in higher education, and cuts to programs essential for our emergency responders in local communities – still have work to do. Higher education still faces over $11 million in cuts. Just as importantly, the budget still has several important stages to go and cuts can still be reinstated or increased. As it stands now, the budget is built on a house of cards that could collapse at any moment. We need to continue to be diligent in urging policymakers to pass new revenue and update the revenue estimate, to ensure adequate resources to fund programs essential to our communities. Want to know more about actions taken this past week on the budget? Check out our quick summary here.