PROVIDENCE – It’s clear the state is facing a deficit in its fiscal year 2021 budget, but exactly how much depends on who you ask.
The latest calculation presented to the House Finance Committee on Nov. 18 puts the state $275 million in the hole. The estimate presented by Sharon Reynolds Ferland, House fiscal adviser, is more than double the $114 million figure put out by the R.I. Office of Management and Budget days earlier.
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Reynolds Ferland emphasized that any estimate is, at this point, just that – an estimate, based on subjective assumptions and uniquely difficult to calculate this year because the state has still not passed a fiscal 2021 spending plan, which would be typically be used as the base off which to estimate income. Indeed, budget deficit projections have varied widely. In May, the shortfall was pegged at nearly $800 million.
However, Reynolds Ferland also said the most recent OMB estimates do not account for some of the additional spending the state is anticipating, including in the current budget, which is why its projection is lower.
Jonathan Womer, OMB director, said the calculations put out by the House “match very well with the ones we have,” adding that even the slightly different perspectives come to the same conclusion about the “relatively substantial problem” of a budget deficit.
One major question mark amid the uncertain fiscal climate is what happens with the state’s $1.25 billion Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding, about $185 million of which has not been spent or assigned according to House estimates, that is currently set to expire on Dec. 30.
Nancy Lavin is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
