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Independence, MO —
There’s no real surprise in Friday’s action by Gov. Jay Nixon in signing the state’s $24 billion budget that goes into effect in about a week and then immediately begins withholding $15 million, largely from higher education.
In less than half a year, things have come full circle.
The state’s revenues are rising steadily but none too impressively as the economy slowly rebounds and chief sources of revenue such as sales taxes rise with it.
Nixon found himself cutting spending by reducing programs and eliminating workers almost from the minute he became governor three and a half years ago, basically at the bottom of the Great Recession. He’s been able to loosen the reins a little, and the job cuts have stopped, but he’s been appropriately cautious about reversing those cuts, making sure the money is there before it’s spent.
Still, we disagreed with him in this space earlier this year when he wanted to cut more from higher education and at the same time warned the state’s public colleges and universities not to raise tuition. Something has to give, we argued, and the General Assembly basically saw it that way, too. The colleges were spared in the budget.
Well, on paper anyway. Several legislators, including key Republicans who run the General Assembly, said the budget wasn’t balanced. The governor is charged with making sure outgo doesn’t exceed income, so Republican legislators have left Democrat Nixon to make cuts they could not agree on. (And it will be cuts. Neither Nixon nor legislative leaders will entertain anything that looks like a tax increase.)
By Nixon’s reckoning, the gap is $50 million. On Friday, he identified $15 million to withhold, $9 million of that from higher education. It’s wait and see for the other $35 million. One of the beefs about the budget is that legislators counted on the Missouri Lottery suddenly bringing in a good deal more money, though lottery officials have thus far stated no grand plans to suddenly make that happen. Nixon is right to be skeptical.
The result? Less for colleges, at least unless and until revenues pick up.
Wasn’t that Nixon’s idea in the first place?
There’s no real surprise in Friday’s action by Gov. Jay Nixon in signing the state’s $24 billion budget that goes into effect in about a week and then immediately begins withholding $15 million, largely from higher education.
In less than half a year, things have come full circle.
The state’s revenues are rising steadily but none too impressively as the economy slowly rebounds and chief sources of revenue such as sales taxes rise with it.
Nixon found himself cutting spending by reducing programs and eliminating workers almost from the minute he became governor three and a half years ago, basically at the bottom of the Great Recession. He’s been able to loosen the reins a little, and the job cuts have stopped, but he’s been appropriately cautious about reversing those cuts, making sure the money is there before it’s spent.
Still, we disagreed with him in this space earlier this year when he wanted to cut more from higher education and at the same time warned the state’s public colleges and universities not to raise tuition. Something has to give, we argued, and the General Assembly basically saw it that way, too. The colleges were spared in the budget.
Well, on paper anyway. Several legislators, including key Republicans who run the General Assembly, said the budget wasn’t balanced. The governor is charged with making sure outgo doesn’t exceed income, so Republican legislators have left Democrat Nixon to make cuts they could not agree on. (And it will be cuts. Neither Nixon nor legislative leaders will entertain anything that looks like a tax increase.)
By Nixon’s reckoning, the gap is $50 million. On Friday, he identified $15 million to withhold, $9 million of that from higher education. It’s wait and see for the other $35 million. One of the beefs about the budget is that legislators counted on the Missouri Lottery suddenly bringing in a good deal more money, though lottery officials have thus far stated no grand plans to suddenly make that happen. Nixon is right to be skeptical.
The result? Less for colleges, at least unless and until revenues pick up.
Wasn’t that Nixon’s idea in the first place?
