State leaders are never able to please everyone when making tough decisions on the state budget. But it’s an open question this year whether they’ll be able to satisfy anyone, with a projected $800 million revenue shortfall related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Gina M. Raimondo in January proposed a $10.2 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. It sought to boost affordable housing and increase investments in education, job training, the environment and health care with the help of new fees and revenue sources.
Gov. Raimondo is inclined to wait until the end of the month to see if federal aid will be coming to help states fill budget holes. While understandable, that leaves little time to get a new budget proposal together, as House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello has requested, rework the old one or let state lawmakers take on the unenviable task on their own.
If ever there was a year for the governor, House speaker and Senate president to set aside differences on the budget, it is this one. It’s one thing to tell Rhode Islanders we’re all in this together and another to show them, by agreeing on a path forward.
