Carcieri: ‘Difficult steps’ needed to close budget gap

PROVIDENCE – “Difficult steps” must be taken to bridge the state’s looming budget gap, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said in announcing he would present his supplemental budget plan to the General Assembly today.
“With less than six months left in the current fiscal year, we are required to take some difficult steps to quickly resolve a projected $151 million budget shortfall,” he warned in a statement yesterday. “In budget terms, $151 million is a very large problem to solve in a very short amount of time.”
The shortfall – first publicly identified in November – is largely the result of a decline in state revenue from taxes and Lottery proceeds, and higher-than-anticipated caseloads in certain human-service programs, state officials have said. In a report last month, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council concurred. (READ MORE.)
“My supplemental budget plan for the current year will include the difficult decisions necessary to bring this year’s state budget back into balance,” Carcieri added. The governor said his plan will rely mostly on spending cuts in eight areas, but declined to specify what those areas might be.
“My staff has already reached out to both the Democratic and Republican leadership of the General Assembly to discuss our options and some of the plans we are considering,” Carcieri said. “Based on those meetings, I believe that the General Assembly recognizes the severity of the budget problem and is willing to work with my administration to craft a solution.
“With that in mind, I hope the legislature will have the opportunity to act quickly on my supplemental budget plan because time is of the essence.”
Additional information is available from the governor’s office at www.ri.gov/governor.
Once the budget plan is filed, details will be available from the R.I. General Assembly – along with other information, including the House and Senate daily calendars and listings of measures introduced each day – at rilin.state.ri.us.