Editorial: Gov. Barbour wise to stay the course
MISSISSIPPI’S SENATORS decided last week to take a short-term view of the state’s long-term budget problems.
Fortunately, however, Gov. Haley Barbour still insists on keeping the state’s long-term interests in mind when making decisions on this year’s budget. He vows to veto the Senate’s budget restoration bill — and he seems to have the votes to make a veto stand.
The Senate voted 26-22 to take $79 million from the state’s budget reserves and use most of the money to boost funding for elementary and secondary education.
Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula, sided with the governor and voted “no.”
Gov. Barbour and his supporters won’t argue that, after several rounds of cuts in the state’s 2009-10 budget, the schools could use the money. But there are two big problems with the Senate bill: It reduces the state’s cushion against the inevitable budget challenges of 2011 and beyond, and it doesn’t help the state deal with a looming crisis in the prison system.
Mississippi Press
2/24/10
Magnolia Tribune
