#msleg FY18 state budget likely full of large cuts

Early state budget draft has more drastic cuts

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday passed numerous spending bills — full of large budget cuts to many agencies — on to its full chamber as the 2017 Mississippi legislative session enters its final few weeks and lawmakers get down to dickering on a more than $6 billion state budget.

Various agencies’ budgets are subject to wax and wane from preliminary numbers as Senate and House leaders negotiate, but overall the budget is full of red ink as revenue shortfalls for the current year top $130 million.

An “FY 2018 Senate Action vs FY 2017” report released Thursday shows most agencies — except K-12 public education — taking cuts, many of them large.

Clarion Ledger
3/9/17