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Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Morning Jolt! The State Budget Forecast

Politics, This Washington   September 16, 2010 at 11:05 am Josh Feit

It’s not exactly a jolt (Gov. Chris Gregoire has been warning everyone about it for at least a month). But the new state revenue forecast is out and it’s not good news.

Revenues for the rest of the  ’09-11 biennium budget are expected to come up $770 million short. The forecast also calls for a $669 million shortfall for the next biennium—for a total shortfall of $1.4 billion on the horizon.

The state is already coming off a $12 billion shortfall from the end of the ’07-09 budget and the 09-’11 budget. The solution has been nearly $5 billion in government cuts along with $370 million set of tax increases, and other fixes like fund transfers, federal money, and rainy day fund money. (The new taxes made up about 8.5 percent of the fix.)

With these new numbers (the $770 million hit), the $250 million ending fund balance the state had after the previous surgery, has turned into a $520 million negative. “Our $12 billion problem has turned into a $12.8 billion problem, ” Glenn Kuper, director of the state Office of Financial Management told PubliCola this morning.

The solution, as the governor warned earlier in the week, is more cuts. To balance the budget (i.e., $520 million in cuts) the governor has asked for 6.3 percent across the board cuts in all state agencies.

In a press statement this morning, Marty Brown, director of the the Office of Financial Management said:

“With this drop in revenue, our current budget is now projected to be in the red. We will enact cuts to address this problem while we look for ways to transform the budget and address shortfalls for the next budget period.”

Meanwhile, the $669 millio shortfall for the next biennium—2011-13—pushes the $3 billion shortfall to $4.5 on a planned $33 billion budget.




  • http://enforcetopdownreform.blogspot.com/ Dorothy Neville

    Yet Seattle Schools wants a small boost of funds (2% of the budget) to tide them over until the state budget improves. Many people will listen to SchoolsFirst that claims the Supplemental Levy will be used to offset cuts and provide BASIC Education. However, look at the details. Along with their downtown “reform” projects they want the money for, they have just approved a new Teachers Contract that requires them to spend levy money on more NEW and ONGOING expenses. Some might have a marginal impact on students, but an across the board 1% raise will do nothing for the kids and will just dig the district deeper into budget woes.

    Sadly, it shows an unsurprising lack of critical thinking and financial acumen from the only Washington school district to get 20 audit findings, including repeated violations of state and federal laws meant to protect public funds and conclusions such as “Our audit identified significant deficiencies in controls that adversely affect the District’s ability to produce reliable financial statements. As a result, financial statement users do not have accurate information to evaluate and understand the financial position of the District.”

  • Jeff

    probably best if we keep our head in the sand rather than recognize that the legislature’s generosity to big business is a big piece of the problem

    http://microsofttaxdodge.com/2010/09/microsofts-nevada-tax-dodge-much-larger-than-previously-estimated.html

  • Ansel Adams

    1997 Called and they want their “Budget Cut” graphic back…

  • http://spifflines.blogspot.com/ John Bailo

    Gregoire set this up so she could push through the Tax Cut for the Top One Percent Asset Holders — Prop 1098.

    Of course, the Lapdogs known as Publicola and SLOG are ready with their barking orders.

    Right now she’s sitting on 3 Billion for the other Ruling Class payday — the tunnel.

  • Narrows Bridge

    The 3 billion tunnel fund comes from transportation dollars, separate than General Fund dollars that are coming up short in this story.

    And really, the Governor worked with the I-1098 folks before the final Legislative budget and convinced the Dems to build a budget that would look bad and lose them seats, just to pass I-1098? Really?

  • http://spifflines.blogspot.com/ John Bailo

    This is a time of “change”. If the Dems want to re-route those monies now — they can do all sorts of things. Put all the workers into a “tunnel study group” and pay them that way.

    Really? Yeah. It’s obvious who put Gregoire on her throne and what she has to stay to keep her scepter.

  • Jakers

    What else can you do, try to keep them here like we did the Seahawks? Passing laws that forbid the remove of equipment required to maintain operations and play games here?

  • Jeff

    I’m a lefty and I think the Dems/Hunter/Gregoire performance is pathetic. So they’re not winning my support.

  • sarah

    And who is? Or will you just sit out and claim that’s your contribution to making things better?