Brandon Jones for House District 111

December 02, 2009

Dear Friends,

Budget Primer

It has been a difficult year for Mississippi families. As the cost of services has continued to rise, more and more men and women have seen their pay and benefits cut while others have found themselves out of work altogether. Similarly, our state’s budget outlook has continued to worsen. In this fiscal year, we are facing the real possibility of a total shortfall in excess of $350 million. In light of these poor numbers, the Governor has already ordered spending reductions in the amount of $172 million and many around the capitol expect more cuts very soon.

While there have been subtle signs that the national economy is slowly beginning to recover, it is likely that states like Mississippi will continue to experience declining revenues in the short term. These factors make it essential for lawmakers to enter the budgeting process with the same kind of flexibility and ingenuity that Mississippi families have exercised during the past year.

The law requires the Governor to release his budget recommendations during the month of November and for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to release its recommendations in December. The Governor’s report was issued on November 16 and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee’s report is expected by December 15.

Since the Governor released his 29 page recommendation two weeks ago, a lot has been made of his suggestions that we eliminate one-third of Mississippi’s K-12 school districts through consolidation and merge several of our public universities. It is important to note that these were not the only proposals contained in the Governor’s report. Other recommendations include:

• a 12 % reduction to many state agencies;
• the closure of 4 Department of Mental Health facilities and 6 crisis centers;
• hiring additional auditors;
• privatizing wine sales;
• combining the Mississippi Forestry Commission with the Department of Agriculture and Commerce;
• consolidating the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance into the Secretary of State’s office;
• shifting the Department of Transportation Enforcement Division into the Department of Public Safety;
• releasing state agencies from the State Personnel Board;
• modifying the benefit structure for the state employee retirement system; and
• creating a Mississippi Health Insurance Exchange.

Against the backdrop of the Governor’s budget suggestions, a bi-partisan task force, the Commission for a New Mississippi, has released its own 50+ page report calling for performance based budgeting. Among the more interesting proposals in this report is a recommendation that the Legislature merge the Legislative Budget Office with the Legislative PEER Committee to create a single accountability office. Some have suggested that placing this new accountability office outside of the Legislature’s control might give it a stronger voice. I’m not sure I disagree.

While lawmakers across the state consider these proposals and await recommendations from the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, I am urging my colleagues to keep an open mind and carefully consider all proposals carefully. It is too early in the process and the outlook is too bleak to take any options off the table.

If you have an opinion about any of these proposals or have some suggestions of your own, please stop by or give me a call. I’d like to hear from you.

How to Contact Me

As always, I invite you to call me on my cell phone at 228-326-7649 or e-mail me at bjones@house.ms.gov. For real time updates, you can also follow me on Twitter under the user name “brandoncjones”. If you haven’t heard of Twitter, you can check out my page at http://twitter.com/brandoncjones or by following the link on my website. Please feel free to forward this report to folks in our district and let me know if I need to add someone to my list.

I will also be posting my updates and House related news on my campaign website at www.electbrandonjones.com.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Brandon