Lawmakers look ahead to '10 session
Posted at: 10/22/2009 8:26 PM
| Updated at: 10/22/2009 9:28 PM
By: Stuart Dyson, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com
It may be endgame for the special session, but there's a new game right around the corner: A new budget with a new hole to fill—and less money laying around to fill it with.
After finding ways to cut more than $650 million out of the 2010 budget, lawmakers will come back in the January regular session to put together a budget with a similar-sized problem—a projected shortfall of at least $600 million.
Aztec Republican Senator Steven Neville said, "It's not like we just had a bad month or something like that— we're talking about 1-2-3 years. We don't know how far into the future before we get this thing back on track— it may be 5-6 years before our revenues get back up to the level they were at just a year ago."
Democratic lawmakers also acknowledge there's a big task waiting for them next year.
"We're coming up with a remedy that will hold us till the January session," Questa Democrat Sen. Carlos Cisneros said. "At that point, we're gonna deal with 2011— which seems to be a very similar picture as we had in '09 and '10."
Lawmakers admit they're filling the hole in the current 2010 budget with some ongoing cuts, but also using one-time money fund transfers, reserves, cash balances— even federal stimulus funds. That's all money that just won't be there as they put together the next budget.
Fierce debate is anticipated as progressive Democrats support higher taxes, and moderate Dems join with most Republicans, saying that it's not good medicine for a sick economy.
|
 |
Print Story |
