By St. Rep Ken Paxton
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas It is no secret that Texas is facing a significant budget gap in the 2012-13 biennium. What is less clear is the exact size of the gap. Whatever the size of the gap the budget will have to be cut to balance the States books for the next biennium.
Projections have put its size anywhere from $10 billion to $21 billion less than what
would be needed to expand current State services & programs to meet increased demand over the next two years.
Ultimately the only number that matters is the State Comptrollers 2012-13 Biennial Revenue Estimate which will be provided to legislators immediately before the 82nd Legislature convenes.
The good news is that by instructing agencies to cut their current biennium spending by five percent and their 2012-13 spending requests by ten percent Governor Perry Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst and Speaker Straus have set the State on a path of spending cuts to meet the projected shortfall.
However further cuts are still necessary to ensure that the budget can be balanced without raising taxes and this can be done.
Prior to the commencement of the 78th Legislature when early revenue projections looked dire my colleagues and I reviewed State spending priorities laid out structural changes in State appropriations and management and identified numerous
areas for cost savings.
As a result the 78th Legislature with the support of the Governor overcame the $7.4 billion revenue shortfall by means of fiscal restraint and without raising taxes.
A legacy of the 2003 budget cuts is our States fiscal strength. In fact responsible state-spending has allowed Texas to be the nations fiscal powerhouse for almost a decade and has helped Texas weather the current economic downturn better than all other states.
Central to the task of repeating the success of the 2003 budget will be a renewed focus on the States core responsibilities and functions with the goal of eliminating discretionary and wasteful spending that fall outside clear State responsibilities. Many agencies are engaged in activities and administration of programs that are not in support of their core mission often escaping scrutiny as they become a generally-accepted part of an agencys responsibilities.
Thats called mission creep.
Activities that are either not essential to the core mission of an agency or have failed should be considered for privatization elimination or at the very least restructuring. Even rolling back the State budget to merely 2006-2007 levels especially in the number of State workers would be a significant step in the
right direction.
The budget gap in the 2011 Legislative Session will provide the perfect backdrop to enact these necessary changes.
As this budget process unfolds the sky will not fall in 2011 any more than it did in 2003 as a result of cutting State spending and not raising taxes.
