More State Revenues Available Than Expected

Wyoming apparently will have more revenue to work with than they expected, but that doesn’t mean Governor Mead’s recommended $60-million dollars in cuts to expenditures will be withdrawn.  However, it now appears there will be about $90-million dollars that hasn’t been appropriated that will be available before making any cuts.  Teton County Representative Keith Gingery says the Governor still believes the state’s agencies can operate more efficiently, and he has recommended some areas to be looked at.  Gingery says the Governor believes that there are some areas of the budget that have gone a long time without being addressed.  Gingery says there are certain areas Mead would like to cut including some areas in the Department of Health.  Gingery says the Governor proposes to cut $10-million in mental health and $4-million in funds for developmental pre-schools which Gingery maintains are the sorts of things that if you have the money available, you fund them.  In fact, he says he would rather see those sorts of things funded than to fund the new engineering building at UW.  Governor Mead is proposing to allocate $30-million dollars to get the building under way.  Gingery says Mead also s proposing to cut nearly $ ½-million from the tourism budget that would be used to support a program where local businesses can participate in partnership with state marketing. That program, Gingery says, is very beneficial to local businesses and he would like to see it retained. Meanwhile, Gingery says the state’s fire account has gone $20-million dollars into the red which will have to be addressed along with allocating funds for the upcoming fire season.  This year’s legislative session opens on Tuesday.