State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Too Soon for Louisiana to Celebrate Its Budget?

Governing: In recent years, Louisiana has bounced from one budget crisis to another, with a decade’s worth of short-term fixes barely keeping the lights on. As the current fiscal year approached, the state faced yet another fiscal showdown, with revenue sources expiring and a shortfall threatening deep cuts to hospitals, nursing homes, and colleges and universities, as well as the possible elimination of the food stamp program entirely.

But a week before the fiscal year began in July, legislators agreed on a repair package that shifted $46 million in oil spill recovery money into the operating budget and, more important, preserved a sales tax increase that was set to expire. Or part of it, anyway.

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