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Mississippi state budget (2009-2010)

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Note: This article was last updated in 2010. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances.


A final balanced FY 2010 budget was passed by the Mississippi State Legislature in special session and signed by Gov. Haley Barbour for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2009, leaving an estimated general fund balance for June 30, 2010 of $0.[1] Gov. Barbour vetoed parts of seven appropriation bills from the special session.[2] The governor had cut the FY 2010 budget by a total of $458.5 million, as of February 2010, since its adoption in 2009 in light of falling revenue.[3]

State revenue continued to contract since approval of the FY 2010 budget over the summer, leading Gov. Barbour to order additional cuts of $171.9 million on September 3, 2009. Mississippi had seen 13 consecutive months of revenue declines, including the first three months of FY 2010. July 2009 state revenue was 11.3%, $26 million less than expected and 26%, $56 million less than was collected in July 2008. August 2009 revenue was 1.69%, $5.5 million below estimates and 5.65%, $31 million less than August 2008.[4] September 2009 state collection figures saw the trend continue with a 10% drop from projections for a first quarter FY 2010 total of negative 7.7%, a $77.4 million shortage.[5]

Senate Bill 2506, a measure to reduce lawmaker salaries by 10 percent, from $10,000 to $9,000, died, even though it passed in the Mississippi Senate.[6][7]

2008-2009 budget crisis

See also: Mississippi state budget (2008-2009)

Budget background

See also: Mississippi state budget and finances

Mississippi's fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30. The governor submits a recommended budget to the legislature on November 15 of each year with an extended budget submission deadline in January for a new governor.[8] The governor must trim spending as mandated by Mississippi Code §27-104-13, which requires the State Fiscal Officer to balance the budget when state revenue falls below estimates for the fiscal year.[9]

The budget process in the state of Mississippi is a year long evolution. Officially beginning in May state agencies prepare requests before submitting them to the governor for consideration in October. But before submitting a recommended budget the governor first consults a group composed of the state economist, the state fiscal officer, the state treasurer, the chairman of the state tax commission, and the director of the legislative budget office. The group provides an estimated revenue forecast for the upcoming fiscal year based on current economic indicators and the economy's growth.
On December 15 the Legislative Budget Committee submits the balanced budget recommendation to the legislature.

Budget figures

The following table provides a history of Mississippi's expenditures and gross domestic product (GDP).

Fiscal year Expenditures (billions) GDP (billions)
2000 $15.4[10] $64.3[10]
2001 $16.3[10] $66.0[10]
2002 $17.3[10] $68.1[10]
2003 $18.4[10] $72.3[10]
2004 $19.5[10] $76.5[10]
2005 $20.0[10] $79.5[10]
2006 $22.1[10] $84.6[10]
2007 $24.9[11] $987.7[11]
2008 $28.0[11] $91.8[11]
2009 $31.6*[11] $90.6*[11]
2010 $35.5**[11] $92.9**[11]
  • NOTE: The figures for FY 2009 had not been finalized at the time this table was built.

FY 2010 budget figures

FY 2010 general fund budget:[12]

Total funds available $4,905,884,250
Total appropriations $4,905,884,250
Projected balance June 30, 2010 $0

Thirty-nine percent, $1.9 billion of the FY 2010 general fund revenue, was from sales tax and 31%, $1.5 billion from individual income taxes. Education made up 62%, $2.9 billion of general fund expenditures, $2.1 billion for K-12 and $820 million for postsecondary education.[13]

General fund appropriations

FY 2010 compared with FY 2009
Agency Appropriations FY '09 Appropriations FY '10 % increase or decrease % total FY '10 appropriation
Legislative $25,975,417 $25,699,726 -1.06% 0.54%
Judiciary and justice $61,781,166 $61,004,725 -1.26% 1.28%
Executive and administrative $3,683,145 $3,512,117 -4.64% 0.07%
Fiscal affairs $98,100,908 $94,180,378 -4.00% 1.98%
Public education $2,258,445,881 $2,129,086,604 -5.73% 44.83%
Higher education $849,013,054 $819.950.820 -3.42% 17.27%
Public health $34,106,624 $31,790,911 -6.79% 0.67%
Hospitals and hospital schools $264,528,980 $220,418,554 -16.68% 4.64%
Agricultural and economic development $112,619,372 $113,599,572 +0.87% 2.39%
Conservation $55,301,770 $55,509,293 +0.38% 1.17%
Corrections $265,954,055 $263,071,632 -1.08% 5.54%
Social welfare $523,154.383 $401,973,805 -23.16% 8.46%
Veterans' affairs $95,453,092 $96,214,673 + 0.80% 2.03%
Local assistance $84,600,000 $84,150.000 -0.53% 1.77%
Miscellaneous $1,406,859 $1,457,411 +3.59% 0.03%
Debt service $289,547,871 $347,187,030 +19.91% 7.31%
Total general fund appropriations (recurring) $5,023,672,577 $4,748,807,251 -5.47% 100.00%

Accounting principles

See also: Mississippi government accounting principles

The Mississippi State Auditor was Stacey E. Pickering as of 2009, elected November 2007. The state's audit reports are published online.[14]

Mississippi also has the Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (a standing committee created in 1973) to provide legislative oversight, which publishes online:[15]

  • Performance evaluations
  • Investigations
  • Expenditure reviews

The Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA) rated Mississippi “tardy” in filing the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), the annual report of state and local governmental entities. IFTA rated 22 states timely, 22 states tardy, and 6 states as worst. IFTA did not consider Mississippi's CAFRs, and those of the other states, to be accurate representations of the state’s financial condition because the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis did not include significant liabilities for the pension plans and for other post employment benefits, such as health care.[16] Mississippi's CAFRs are published online by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor. The Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration prepares the state CAFRs.

Credit rating Fitch Moody's S&P
Mississippi[17] AA Aa3 AA

Budget transparency

Mississippi has a statewide, official spending database online. The Mississippi House Bill 101 (2008), Mississippi Accountability and Transparency Act, mandated the creation of such a website.[18] The state also launched the State of Mississippi Management and Reporting System.

Government tools

The following table is helpful in evaluating the level of transparency provided by a state spending and transparency database:

Criteria for evaluating spending databases
State database Searchability Grants Contracts Line item expenditures Dept./agency budgets Public employee salary
MS Management and Reporting System Y
600px-Yes check.png
N
600px-Red x.png
Y
600px-Yes check.png
Y
600px-Yes check.png
Y
600px-Yes check.png
N
600px-Red x.png

Public employee salary information

See also: Mississippi state government salary

Economic stimulus transparency

  • Mississippi would receive approximately $250 million from the federal government under H.R. 1586, a $26 billion plan to give states money for Medicaid and education that the President signed into law on August 10, 2010.[19]
  • Mississippi received an estimated $1,606,249,181 from the first stimulus.[20]

One Mississippi project was noted in Senator Coburn's and Senator McCain's "Summertime Blues, 100 stimulus projects that give taxpayers the blues" report. The project provided nearly $190,000 to paint a metal canopy in use at the Choctaw Central High School baseball field and to repair and replace a retaining wall behind the concession stand to protect the field.[21]

Error in ARRP

According to Recovery.gov, federal stimulus funds would go to 884 congressional districts, though there are only 435.[22][23]

The stimulus provided nearly $1 million to Mississippi's 5th District, which was eliminated following the 2000 census. In total, stimulus funds were sent to six fictitious districts.[24]

See also

External links

Additional reading

Footnotes

  1. Joint Legislative Budget Committee, "Budget FY 2010," July 20, 2009
  2. Gov. Barbour Press Release, "FY 2010 Budget Prudent, Balanced," July 1, 2009
  3. Clarion Ledger, "Budget: Get on with next year's issues," February 19, 2010
  4. Gulf Coast News, "Falling State Revenues Demand Reductions in FY 2010 Budget," September 3, 2009 (dead link)
  5. Associated Press, "More budget cuts expected, Barbour says," October 3, 2009
  6. The Calhoun County Journal
  7. Mississippi Senate Bill Status SB2506
  8. National Association of Budget Officers, "Budget Processes in the States," 2008 (dead link)
  9. Gulf Coast News, "Falling State Revenues Demand Reductions in FY 2010 Budget," September 3, 2009 (dead link)
  10. 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 US Government Spending, "Mississippi State and Local spending," accessed February 27,2009
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 US Government Spending, "Mississippi State and Local spending," accessed April 20,2010
  12. Joint Legislative Budget Committee, "Budget FY 2010," July 20, 2009
  13. Joint Legislative Budget Committee, "Budget FY 2010," July 20, 2009
  14. Mississippi State Auditor Web site, accessed October 27, 2009 (dead link)
  15. Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Web site, accessed October 27, 2009
  16. Institute for Truth in Accounting, “The Truth About Balanced Budgets—A Fifty State Study,” Page 35
  17. State of Indiana, “State Credit Ratings-as of June 24, 2009"
  18. National Taxpayers Union, "Nation's Largest Taxpayer Group Applauds Mississippi for Passing Spending Transparency Legislation," April 17, 2008
  19. Federal Fund Information for States “ARRA FMAP Extension & Education Jobs Fund Totals” Aug. 11, 2010
  20. Wall Street Journal, "Stimulus Spending by State," March 12,2009
  21. "Summertime Blues, 100 stimulus projects that give taxpayers the blues" August 2010
  22. $6.4 Billion Stimulus goes to Phantom Districts, Watchdog.org, November 17, 2009
  23. Stimulus Creates Jobs in Non-Existent Congressional Districts, Watchdog.org, November 16, 2009
  24. Mississippi, Watchdog.org, November 17, 2009