House Budget Committee Carl Bearden admits the state will have a budget shortfall, but estimates in a worse case scenario 330-million...almost 700 million less than the Governor's projections for fiscal year 2005.
House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said that it was a sad thing that schools had to resort to legal action to deal with unnecessary withholdings.
"I would challenge anyone saying that the cost is more for putting it up on the website because it didn't incur any extra funds to do it," Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles said.
House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said that Missouri's economic growth will be sustained and calls for a reevaluation of the need for Holden's withholdings.
Some Missouri Republicans, however, have expressed greater optimism about the revenue-collection increases. House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, pointed out that revenue increases in the typically slower months of July and August show great promise for the state.
The House Budget Committee chairman - Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles -said he questioned the project, but received no "hard, straight answers", as to whether the state signed a contract for the bathroom renovations. If not, he proposes withholding funding until Missouri's budget is more stable.
House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said the new budget plan would require $150 million in additional revenue. He said he expects the legislature to pass at least $154 million using revenue packages currently under consideration.
JEFFERSON CITY - The oldest operating prison west of the Mississippi may stay open another year, according to House budget committee Chair Carl Bearden. The Jefferson City Correctional Center, which opened in 1836 as the Missouri State Penitentiary, was scheduled to be replaced by a new facility next year. With a tight budget, the Department of Corrections may have to wait another year.
House Budget Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said he could not tell how much money would go to each college or university, but that the money would be there for the coordinating board to allocate.
In a compromise with Democrats, House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said he would allow lawmakers to vote for each department budget appropriation separately.
This is a result of House Speaker Catherine Hanaway and House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden deciding not to continue with the process of cutting Missouri's budget program by program.
House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said that meant cuts to state programs were not nearly over. Those cuts will likely be announced by the end of next week, as the House traditionally tries to pass a budget before its spring recess.
House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said some of the money for the Revenue Department could be restored to next year's budget later in the legislative process, but that Fischer would need to be forthcoming with information about ideas for cuts.
Budget Director Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said in the committee that he has not had cooperation from some departments when asking directors to prioritize their core programs.
Releasing prisoners is something lawmakers in South Carolina are considering as well after that state's Corrections Department suggested it release 4,000 in an effort to cut costs. In Missouri, Gov. Holden has vowed not to grant inmates early releases. But House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said the Corrections Department has been releasing certain prisoners as much as six months early since September as part of an effort to cut costs.
The committee made the cuts in response to the spending cap House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, placed on the education budget. The cap requires the appropriations committee to cut about $100 million for the 2004 fiscal year.
House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said the Senate plan could be a better deal for Missouri taxpayers then the one he helped push through the House. This is because it does not tie the loans to tobacco.
JEFFERSON CITY - Less than four years ago, Carl Bearden was a St. Charles County commissioner, absorbed with local political issues like streetlights and noisy neighbors.
JEFFERSON CITY - Rep. Carl Bearden may help hold the reins of Missouri's $19 billion budget, but just four years ago he was fielding calls about barking dogs and broken streetlights.
House Budget Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said the governor agreed to a $150 million bond issue, but did not make a commitment on where the other cuts would come from.
House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said the remaining deficit should be closed with cuts from elsewhere in the state budget, not education. He said Republicans have already compromised by allowing the governor to spend $100 million of a loan secured by nearly 40 years of future tobacco settlement revenues.
House Budget Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said the Republican controlled legislature won't do that unless they have some assurances about how and when that money will be spent
While the plan does not outline detailed cuts to specific expenses or departments, House Budget Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said he looked at random expenditures that could be cut to come up with the sum.
House Budget Chair Carl Bearden said he has not introduced the administration's proposal as a formal bill because he has "unanswered questions" and is waiting for a statement of support from the Board of Public Buildings.
House budget committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said he and other Republicans had an open mind about borrowing money against the state's share of the tobacco settlement. But he disagreed with the governor's approach.
Meanwhile, Republican House Budget Chairman Carl Bearden says the state is looking at a shortfall in the next fiscal year, but says Gov. Bob Holden is overestimating the fiscal year 2005 deficit by almost $700 million.
Meanwhile, Republican House Budget Chairman Carl Bearden says the state is looking at a shortfall in the next fiscal year, but says Gov. Bob Holden is overestimating the fiscal year 2005 deficit by almost $700 million.
JEFFERSON CITY - House Budget Director Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, is calling on Gov. Bob Holden to release $240 million in withholdings because state revenue is up. State budget director Linda Luebbering said it is too early to consider releasing the funds.
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