Wyoming state budget (2013-2014)

Note: This article was last updated in 2013. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances.

The FY 2013-2014 budget bill as enacted can be found here.

FY 2014 Budget Cuts

With declining natural gas revenue, Governor Matt Mead asked state agency heads to prepare plans to cut eight percent of their budgets for FY 2014. The governor said he would cut his budget by 10 percent, saving over $636,000. Gov. Mead said that he did not wish to rely on reserve funds or savings to balance the budget and opted for the cuts instead. He did, however, say he would consider using one percent of the mineral severance tax that went automatically into the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, which can be diverted by the Wyoming State Legislature.

As of April 2012, the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account (also known as the "rainy day fund") held approximately $1.3 billion, but the governor said he did not believe relying on the rainy day fund was sustainable if revenues did fall. In December 2012, lawmakers reviewed Mead's request that they redirect roughly $130 million a year of energy revenues away from permanent savings into the state's "rainy day" fund, where it could be spent on state projects and operations.

Passage of the FY 2013-2014 Budget

On March 8, 2012, Gov. Mead signed the $3.2 billion budget bill that called for keeping Wyoming's spending flat for FY 2013 and FY 2014. The budget maintained spending for state agencies but also included a provision requiring agencies to present plans to cut their budgets by four percent in 2013 in response to falling natural gas prices. The Wyoming Legislature approved the budget bill SF0001 on March 7, 2012, prior to the end of the legislative session.

The governor submitted his $3.4 billion 2013-2014 biennial budget on December 1, 2011. In January 2012, the governor cut $64 million from his proposed budget after state budget analysts said lower natural gas prices mean the state would likely receive $100 million less than anticipated in the biennial budget cycle. His reductions included not giving state employees a pay raise, which he said was preferable to layoffs.

The budget made a five percent reduction in most agency contract accounts. Additional cuts in the governor's proposed budget include:

• $13 million for capital construction at the Wyoming Boys’ School at Worland
• $5 million from the $15 million request for landfills in the Department of Environmental Quality budget.
• $5 million from the capital construction project for infrastructure and improvement at University of Wyoming.

The Medicaid program served over 77,000 people in Wyoming at a cost of over $500 million split between the state and federal governments.

The Joint Appropriations Committee approved the budget after setting aside $150 million from the rainy day fund in the event that sagging natural gas prices left the state short on revenue. The committee also nixed the governor’s $37 million recommendation for the Medicaid program in the Wyoming Department of Health to make up for the loss of federal stimulus funds, instead setting aside $25 million in the state auditor’s office for the department to tap into in case of a Medicaid shortfall.

In his State of the State address, delivered more than two months after the governor presented his proposed budget, Gov. Mead urged lawmakers not to make across the board cuts to agencies despite falling energy prices that would mean less revenue for the state.