Governor Jay Nixon and the chairmen of the state House and Senate appropriations committee have come to an agreement on the amount of money available for the budget year that starts in June 2011 (FY 2012).
The projected revenue estimate is made every December, and is the figure the governor and lawmakers use to craft budget proposals.
The state expects to collect about $7.3 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2012. While that’s up from the current budget year, it’s still about $700 million below what the state collected in 2008.
Missouri’s budget has been cushioned by hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds the past two years. But that aid, about $860 million for Medicaid and education needs, is expected to dry up next year.
As a result, both the governor and the GOP-led General Assembly are preparing to slice Missouri’s budget even more.
