Bryant to Legislature: Replenish Rainy Day fund
Forced to use the state’s so-called Rainy Day fund several times to balance the state budget last fiscal year, Gov. Phil Bryant is pleading with legislators to reign in their spending habits.
In his Executive Budget Recommendation released this month, Bryant asked legislators to spend no more than 98 percent of the revenue the state expects to collect this fiscal year.
The “98 Percent Rule,” in the Mississippi Code of 1972, requires that the total expenditures from the State’s General Fund “shall not exceed (98 percent) of the amount of general fund revenue” estimated for the following fiscal year.
The 2 percent left over can be deposited in the Working Cash-Stabilization Fund, commonly called the Rainy Day Fund. There is a 7.5 percent cap on general fund appropriation used to fill the Rainy Day fund, but there is no statutory minimum.
Daily Journal
11/30/16
Magnolia Tribune
