Governor Mead Finishing Work On State Budget [Audio]

For the last couple of months Governor Matt Mead has been working on a budget for the next two years. The new budget will be presented on December 1st. Governor Mead hopes to protect Wyoming from the prediction of flat revenue over the next few years.

According to a press release from the Office of Governor Matt Mead, the work on the budget has involved conversations with state agencies and leaders from the Legislature.

The fact is over the last decade our spending on the standard budget has more than doubled. Over that period of time the State of Wyoming has done some tremendous things, but we can’t continue to double it every ten years. So, the challenge for the State of Wyoming is to have a budget that is sustainable, that is more flatlined and recognizes that the predictions on our revenue are going to be flat for the next couple of years.
- Governor Mead

The Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee asked state agencies earlier this month to prepare scenarios for 5 and 8 percent cuts to their standard budgets or ongoing budgets.

Doing cuts of that size in a short time period could have unintended consequences. So, I asked agencies themselves to look at 2% and see what those numbers look like. On top of that, working with agencies we’ve already made some cuts to standard budgets for these agencies. We’re going to look, when we meet with the Legislature and the Joint Appropriations Committee, at what the right number is. Having said that we also need to recognize that the state of Wyoming is currently in good shape. There are some things we want to do and we have funded some areas that I think needed to be funded. I have certainly looked at local government, roads, community colleges, education generally, the University of Wyoming and other areas as well.
- Governor Mead

Governor Mead says he is pleased with how work is progressing on the budget that he will present on December 1st. He also said he looks forward to working with the Legislature to build a budget that is fiscally conservative and invests in areas that will build a better Wyoming.