Barbour: Miss. gov needs more power to cut budget

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told lawmakers Thursday he wants more power to reduce state spending when times are tough.

Meeting with members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Republican said he wants the authority to cut the budget by 10 percent when the House and Senate are not in session.

Under current state law, the governor can cut up to 5 percent. For larger cuts, the governor has to call the House and Senate back to the Capitol.

Barbour said the change would give him - and future governors - more flexibility for financial management.

However, he's unlikely to get what he wants because legislators jealously guard their power to decide how much money state programs receive. The House and Senate would have to approve the change.

"We do the best we can, and it is trial-and-error," Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, told reporters after the meeting with Barbour. "If we get in bad shape, he can call us back and we'll deal with it. But spending is the purview of the Legislature, not the governor."

Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, agreed.

"Why would we want to turn the budget over to one person, no matter who that person is?" Brown said.

During their meeting Thursday, lawmakers reduced their estimate for the state's general fund for the current fiscal year, which began July 1 and ends next June 30. The new estimate is nearly $4.6 billion, down from about $4.9 billion.

With federal stimulus payments, a lawsuit settlement and some other money on top of the general fund, state spending had been close to $6 billion.

Barbour already has ordered $172 million in budget cuts and has said he expects to make more reductions. Even with the new estimate, it's still unclear when he'll make the next round of cuts.

Legislators on Thursday also set their initial estimate for how much money the state might spend during the budget year that begins next July 1. It is three-tenths of 1 percent higher than the new estimate for the current year - a minuscule increase.

The estimates are based on recommendations from the state economist, the state treasurer, the director of the Legislative Budget Office, the director of the state Department of Finance and Administration and the head of the state Tax Commission.

State economist Phil Pepper said that this is the first time in 30 years for Mississippi's revenue to decrease, rather than grow, two years in a row. He said there was a consensus to recommend a slight increase next year because of signs that economic activity might pick up a year from now.

Pepper said Mississippi saw a 3 percent decrease in employment from January through September. He said housing starts in the state are 60 percent below 2007 levels, and consumer spending from January through October was down 7.8 percent from the same time last year.

"It's hard to find a bright spot in our economy unless you call 'We're doing better than a lot of states' a bright spot," Pepper said.