By Michael Howell
Lt. Governor Mike Cooney was in the Bitterroot valley last week and stopped in at the Bitterroot Star to talk about the Governor’s budget. He said the governor was aware that revenues from coal, oil and gas were going to be down and took that into account when he put together his budget. He said the legislature did what it usually does and put the governor’s budget aside and came up with one of their own.
According to Cooney, the legislature saw more revenues coming from somewhere, although he is still not sure where, when they adopted their own budget. He said they did put some triggers into SB 261, the legislation that enacts the budget, that would kick in when the budget fell behind at certain mileposts.
“As soon as the legislature left,” he said, “all four triggers were hit and we find ourselves having to make $76 million in cuts to balance the budget. That was really an eye opener,” said Cooney.
According to Cooney, once the legislature adopted 261, the only thing the governor can do to balance the budget is to make cuts of up to 10% in each agency and department. So that is what the governor plans to do unless some alternative can be worked out with the legislature.
The problem with making those cuts, according to Cooney, is that out of all the state agencies, three of them get the lion’s share of funding and thus will take the lion’s share of the cut. He said 80% of the General Fund pie goes to three agencies, Corrections, Education K-12 and higher, and Health and Human Services.
Cooney said a 10% cut is going to hit those three general fund agencies hard.
“But the criticism that we are being mean just to make a point is not the case. It’s just the way the law is written. It’s the way it’s done,” he said. If you add it all up, he said, we are facing a $227 million deficit in the budget.
“Every agency is looking for ways to save,” he said. “But this is going to really hurt services to kids, to seniors, to veterans, to students. There isn’t a community in Montana that won’t feel these cuts.” He said they were “to the bone” and that the governor was looking for someone, anyone, who was willing to talk about some sort of compromise, or maybe look for a little additional revenue to lessen the blow.
“The Governor is looking for a compromise,” said Cooney. “As he put it, ‘I’m looking for a dance partner here.”