La. to hold back cash

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jan 8, 2009 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Rather than drastically downsizing state government, Gov Bobby Jindal used state agencies’ unspent cash to help fill a $341 million hole in this year’s $30 billion state budget.

The administration defends using unspent dollars — perhaps as much as $80 million or about 23 percent of the total.

Critics counter that the governor contradicted himself by relying on what could be considered “one-time money” to resolve the state’s budget shortfall.

The governor’s plan includes tapping into money left over after the state paid for health care, textbooks and other expenses.

For instance, the administration included $272,891 in funds leftover after buying textbooks, library books and other instruction materials for nonpublic schools.

Commissioner of Administration Angèle Davis said Wednesday the administration put together a responsible plan rather than the most painful one.

“It would be stupid not to take the savings in the current year as a result of unused funds,”  said Davis, Jindal’s chief financial officer.

At issue is whether Jindal used one-time money to resolve the current problem rather than making cuts in government programs that will continue next year, when the shortfall is expected to be nearly six times as great.

One-time money is revenue that the state cannot expect to get year after year. 

But money leftover from the appropriation after the goods or services have been paid is not, at least by the administration’s definition, one-time money.

The $400 million set aside in a megafund for economic development projects is one-time money that should not be used for annual expenses, the administration said.

The megafund is intended to have cash on hand to use as incentives for economic development projects.

The governor’s budget director said tapping into the fund  would go against ending a reliance on one-time money.