Allain: Shortfall in state budget worsened by oil

Sen. Bret Allain said Wednesday that the state is spending more than it is taking in, contributing to the fiscal crisis it faces this year.
He spoke to the St. Mary Parish Chamber during a Legislative Breakfast held at the Forest Restaurant in Franklin.
Allain, (R-Dist. 51), said the state has been using “one-time money, schemes, smoke, mirrors, whatever we can find to plug the budget. To make it appear that it was balanced. Remember we have a constitutional mandate that says at the end of the year we have to have a balanced budget. That’s why you’ve seen cuts to the only things we can cut: higher education and health care.”
The shortfall this year was worsened by the low price of oil. State coffers now face a $1.6 billion shortfall.
“That’s incredible, and there’s no consensus how to fix it,” Allain said. “Real dollars it’s probably $780 million that needs to be cut. The governor was no help…he came to the table with an executive budget that showed that inventory taxes were no longer going to be rebated to companies. That’s been here since the 1800s.”
In 1991 the state began reimbursing that tax to the companies, totaling $450 million today. “This is a structural problem,” Allain said. “That would be a tax on business.”
Allain said he is supporting a bill “sun-setting” all statutory budget dedication, opening them up for budget cuts and adjustments in times of fiscal crisis.
“We need to be able to set priorities as elected officials in this state,” he said. “You wouldn’t run a business like that and you sure can’t run government like that.”
He said he believes the state has enough money to operate by setting priorities and “doing what we have to do. Give us input, give us guidance,” he told the audience.
Allain noted that chances of holding a constitutional convention to redefine state governmental powers will never be allowed by a governor, whose position is the strongest in the nation.
He also reported that Franklin Foundation will receive at least $4 million this year from in state funds and Teche Regional Medical Center in Morgan City will receive $2 million.