Which way will the governor go?
Even as Missouri’s governor, Jay Nixon, makes his way through the pile of homework the General Assembly has put on his desk, there are questions about borrowing and spending to build needed facilities and try to stimulate the economy.
The governor has many bills to review and has suggested he might veto some of the $381 million in construction projects for which the General Assembly has set aside federal stimulus money – but he might also call legislators into a special session to consider asking voters for a $700 million bond issue for many other projects.
The governor says he’s concerned about the state budget over the next couple of years and that he’d like to set aside some of that $381 million and not have to raise taxes. That’s a reasonable point, though the whole idea of stimulus spending is to get it going in relatively short order to preserve or even create some jobs. The bond issue would spread that out a little bit.
It is a balancing act and a huge gamble. The federal government has set the country on a path of borrowing and spending, hoping to keep the economy from going off a cliff – so far, so good – and then growing again. We’re still waiting on that part. States have a role here too, but, unlike the federal government, legally most of them have to balance their budgets.
Some of the money has flowed down the local level, and good projects are getting done, such as the $3.3 million for the Little Blue Parkway and $1.4 million to extend Jackson Drive, both in Independence. That keeps people working and leads to broader local economic growth at some point. But great discipline will be needed in Washington in the years ahead to pull back on the spending and start paying off all this debt. Our lenders – many of them overseas – who are putting up the money are already airing some concerns. That’s tomorrow’s headache. Today the governor is trying work out a smaller but still substantial piece of the puzzle.
