Saturday, January 21, 2017

A Tale of Two States

Here's Wisconsin, run pretty much by Republicans the last several years:
Wisconsin's biennial budget picture got $714 million brighter Wednesday, with a projected deficit turning into a small surplus, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Fiscal bureau director Bob Lang reported tax revenues are expected to be $455 million higher than what the Department of Administration projected in November. Also, spending in the current fiscal year that ends June 30 is expected to be $226 million lower — largely due to lower-than-expected Medicaid enrollment — and other revenues are expected to be $33 million higher.

Here's California, run overwhelmingly by Democrats the last several years:
Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration miscalculated costs for the state Medi-Cal program by $1.9 billion last year, an oversight that contributed to Brown’s projection of a deficit in the upcoming budget, officials acknowledged this week.

The administration discovered accounting mistakes last fall, but it did not notify lawmakers until the administration included adjustments to make up for the errors in Brown’s budget proposal last week. The Democratic governor called for more than $3 billion in cuts because of a projected deficit he pegged at $1.6 billion...

Brown’s deficit projection was driven by more than just the accounting error, Palmer said, noting that California tax collections came in below expectations for most of the first half of the fiscal year.

The massive hole in the Medi-Cal budget surprised state lawmakers.
Are there any states that are run by Democrats that are in good financial shape, even in the short term?

3 comments:

Pseudotsuga said...

I wanted to vote for Scott Walker for President, due largely to the results of his work as Governor.
But that wasn't to be...

Ellen K said...

Walkers time hasn't come yet. I felt the same about Ted Cruz. Someday......

PhillipMarlowe said...

Kansas?