State Budgets: The Forecast for the Year Ahead

March 21, 2002 | Read Time: 4 minutes

	Timing
State	When governor submits budget to legislature	When legislature adopts budget	Fiscal year begins	Outlook

Alabama	February	February-May	October	General fund spending faces $70-million reduction. Education trust fund projects $114-million in revenue growth.

Alaska	December	May	July	Budget gap of $1.25-billion expected.

Arizona	January	January-April	July	Includes an $800-million (12 percent) budget gap.

Arkansas	September-December	January-April	July	General fund revenue is projected to grow 4.1 percent.

California	January	June	July	Projects an $8-billion (10 percent) budget gap.

Colorado	November	May	July	Outlook is better than the current year.

Connecticut	February	June-May	July	Projects a potential deficit of $794.4-million.

Delaware	January	June	July	General fund revenue is projected to be down $146-million from the June estimate.

District of Columbia ^*	February	May	October	Budget gap is projected at $234-million.

Florida	January	April-May	July	With revenue tracking the revised estimate, the outlook remains optimistic.

Georgia	January	March	July	Outlook is considered positive because of the existing surplus and spending cuts.

Hawaii	December	April-May	July	Projected budget gap is $150-million.

Idaho	January	March	July	Budget-balancing plans could include cuts of 3 to 10 percent from state agencies.

Illinois	February	May	July	Improving economy could result in $300-million to $500-million in revenue growth.

Indiana	January	April	July	Budget gap is $1.2-billion for the 2002-2003 biennium.

Iowa	January	April-May	July	Budget outlook is tentative.

Kansas	January	May	July	Officials anticipate 4 percent across-the-board cuts to avoid a projected budget gap.

Kentucky	January	April	July	Budget shortfall has been addressed, but outlook remains weak.

Louisiana	February-March	June	July	Budget outlook is not as bright as fiscal year 2002, with the state likely to act on a number of expiring revenue items to avoid a budget shortfall.

Maine	January	June	July	Faces a $158-million budget gap in the second half of the 2002-2003 biennium.

Maryland	January	April	July	Faces a budget gap of roughly $1-billion (9 percent).

Massachusetts	January	June	July	Budget outlook projects a $2-billion budget gap.

Michigan	February	June-July	October	Budget outlook projects a $540-million budget gap.

Minnesota	January	May	July	Projected budget gap for the 2002-2003 biennium is $1.9-billion, with $357-million of the total in fiscal year 2002.

Mississippi	November-January	March-April	July	Proposals to overcome the budget shortfall include shifting general fund support for road construction over to bonding, accelerating sales-tax collections, and using tobacco-settlement funds.

Missouri	January	April-May	July	To overcome the anticipated budget gap, the governor’s budget includes tapping $135-million from the rainy day fund and $42-million from the tobacco-settlement funds.

Montana	January	April	July	To overcome an anticipated budget gap, the administration is considering service reductions in health care and lowering provider rates.

Nebraska	January	April	July	Projected budget gap is at least $50-million.

Nevada	January	May-June	July	Absent a turnaround in general fund revenue, a budget gap is projected.

New Hampshire	February	May	July	No budget gap is projected.

New Jersey	January	June	July	The budget situation is considered “extremely difficult” with the administration projecting a shortfall of $5-billion.

New Mexico	January	February-March	July	State agencies have requested spending growth of 8.1 percent compared to a recommended 1.4 percent increase in spending by the Legislature.

New York	January	March	April	The governor is projecting a $5.7-billion (6.5 percent) budget gap.

North Carolina	February	June	July	Projected budget gap is $500-million to $600-million (about 4 percent of the budget).

North Dakota	December	January-April	July	No budget gap is projected.

Ohio	February	June	July	Before several budget-balancing measures were imposed, the shortfall was projected at $763-million.

Oklahoma	February	May	July	Preliminary estimates indicate a shortfall of $260-million.

Oregon	January	January-June	July	Most of the budget shortfall problem of $830-million is in the second half of the 2002-2003 biennium.

Pennsylvania	February	May-June	July	No budget gap is projected.

Rhode Island	February	June	July	$300-million shortfall is forecast.

South Carolina	January	June	July	No budget shortfall is projected, in part because of the reduced base budget in fiscal year 2002.

South Dakota	December	March	July	Budget shortfall is expected, and policymakers are proceeding with caution.

Tennessee	February	April-May	July	Budget shortfall is projected, as the state needs $705-million in new revenue next fiscal year to maintain current financing.

Texas	January	May	September	Problems may occur in areas such as Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program, as signs of caseload and prescription drugcost increases begin to appear.

Utah	December	February-March	July	No budget gap is projected.

Vermont	January	May	July	Potential budget gap of 2 percent will be discussed during session.

Virginia	December	March-April	July	Potential budget gap of $2-billion looms over the 2003-2004 biennium.

Washington	December	April-May	July	Budget gap for the 2003-2004 biennium is expected to be $500-million to $1-billion.

West Virginia	January-February	March-April	July	To overcome a projected budget gap, state agencies have been asked to cut their spending requests by 3 percent.

Wisconsin	January	June-July	July	Total budget gap for the 2001-2003 biennium is $1.12-billion (5 percent).

Wyoming	December	March	July	No budget gap is projected.

* The mayor submits the budget, which is adopted by the City Council.
SOURCE: National Association of State Budget Officers and National Conference of State Legislatures, January 2002