He who cries loudest has full pockets.

magnolia · Sep 18, 2007

State [Louisiana] expects $1 billion surplus

Posted by Capital Bureau September 18, 2007 1:19PM
By Jan Moller
Capital Bureau

BATON ROUGE -- A surge in corporate and individual income left state government with a $1 billion surplus for the fiscal year that ended June 30, money that will be available when the next administration takes over in January.

The surplus numbers were presented to the Revenue Estimating Conference, a four-member panel that prepares the official budget forecast. But it won't be officially recognized until December, after which it will be available for the governor and Legislature to spend.

Although state officials have been predicting for months that Louisiana would run a surplus for the 2006-07 budget year, the preliminary figures released Tuesday were far beyond earlier estimates.

"We know for sure that we have a billion dollars more than we expected to have," said James Richardson, an LSU economist who sits on the forecasting panel.

Deborah Vivien of the state Office of Planning and Budget said the fiscal good tidings are likely to continue into the near future before leveling off or receding slightly, which means the next administration will likely have more than enough money to pay for new priorities without having to make corresponding cuts.

"It's very likely that we haven't found the peak yet," Vivien said.

For example, the current budget forecast is based on the expectation that oil will trade at $57 per barrel, or far below the $80 a barrel prices seen in recent days.

The state Constitution says surplus dollars can only be spent on "one-time" uses such as road construction, debt repayment or coastal restoration..

Commissioner of Administration Jerry Luke LeBlanc said the latest projections serve to vindicate Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who was assailed by critics for steering a $32 billion budget through the Legislature. Republican leaders said that the budget was built on a "false economy" aided by hurricane-reconstruction dollars, and that Blanco was leaving the next administration with a fiscal mess to clean up.

"We felt all along that this could be sustainable," LeBlanc said.
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Isn't Blanco the one that's been screaming about needing Federal money for rebuilding New Orleans? Seems to me, she needs to try reaching into her own pockets instead of those of the taxpayers in the rest of the nation.

ws · Sep 18, 2007

time to repay the gov't for the help they contributed to katrina. but i dount that will happen.

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He who cries loudest has full pockets.

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He who cries loudest has full pockets.

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