Browsed by
Tag: Washington Budget

Budget leaders: 320 million reasons to avert shutdown

Budget leaders: 320 million reasons to avert shutdown

Relieved budget writers say Washington should be able to avoid a government shutdown, after getting the year’s best revenue news, new, more robust revenue projections and a $90 million reduction in expected caseload costs. State budget Director David Schumacher and budget writers from both houses and both parties said the $320 million one-day windfall should break the Olympia logjam that had threatened to trigger a partial government shutdown if no budget were produced by June 30.  Senate budget Chairman Andy…

Read More Read More

Gregoire: Prepare for budget cuts and more cuts

Gregoire: Prepare for budget cuts and more cuts

Governor Gregoire is directing state agencies to make plans for possible spending cuts in the 4-to-7 percent range, beginning Oct. 1. Gregoire, sounding very sober despite a recent infusion of over a half-billion dollars in federal aid, told a Capitol news conference Thursday the cupboard is nearly bare, with this fiscal year’s projected ending fund balance now down to just $72 million (out of a $31 billion two-year budget).  As noted a day earlier, state tax receipts are lagging below…

Read More Read More

Gregoire: Boost taxes by $605 million

Gregoire: Boost taxes by $605 million

Governor Gregoire has unveiled a $605 million tax package as part of a cut-and-tax plan to close a yawning $2.8 billion budget gap. The Democratic governor is steering clear of the Big 3 (sales, property or business and occupation taxes), and proposing higher taxes on smokes, candy and gum, soda pop, bottled water and oil products. The cigarette tax hike would be a buck a pack (to $3.05 total state tax per package, generating $89 million.) The pop tax would be…

Read More Read More

Ouch: State coffers take another $482m hit

Ouch: State coffers take another $482m hit

Washington’s battered economy is slowly stabilizing, but the state treasury has just taken another $482 million hit and Governor Gregoire has immediately ordered a new round of spending restrictions. The state Economic & Revenue Forecast Council, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers and Gregoire’s revenue and budget directors, has just adopted a grim new update that whacks $185 million from the forecast for the remaining days of the fiscal year and nearly $300 million for the ’09-11 biennium that starts on July 1….

Read More Read More