louisiana cliff year

FISCAL YEAR 2011-2012 THE “CLIFF YEAR”

Fiscal Year 2011-2012 is referred to as the “Cliff Year” because there

will be a $1.6 billion mismatch in revenue and continuing

expenditure costs that can only be eliminated by budget cuts or the

infusion of money that is not contemplated in the Official Revenue Forecast for FY 12

Louisiana’s budget in the current year is $25.5 billion and some wonder why cutting $1.6 billion

from that budget is such a big deal since an across-the-board cut of

6% would take care of the shortfall

$1.6 billion ÷ $25.5 billion = 6%

The math is simple, right?

So, why do budgeteers use such graphic terms like “cliff

year” and why is everyone so concerned about a $1.6 billion

shortfall in a $25.5 billion budget?

The upcoming slides provide a perspective on Louisiana’s budget

that helps answer that question

Think of the FY 11 budget as a big pie with slices that represent the various categories of funding used to support expenditures. Federal Funds cannot be cut to deal with the shortfall

FEDERALFUNDS

45%$11.5 B

For various reasons, the legislature and in some cases the citizens, have chosen to dedicate

certain revenues for specific services. Dedicated funds are not generally considered to be available

to offset a shortfall

FEDERALFUNDS

45%$11.5 B

DEDICATIONS18%

$4.6 B

The legislature allows some agencies to charge a fee to offset some or all of the cost

of their operations. These fees are not generally considered to be available to cover

a budget shortfall in the General Fund

FEDERALFUNDS

45%$11.5 B

DEDICATIONS18%

$4.6 B

AGENCY FEES7% 1.7 B

GENERALFUND30%

$7.7 B

The most versatile funding in the budget is the General Fund which can be used to pay for

any expense of government

FEDERALFUNDS

45%$11.5 B

DEDICATIONS18%

$4.6 B

AGENCY FEES7% $1.7 B

Because there are restrictions on the use of the other sources of funding in the budget, the General Fund is

where most of the cuts will have to be made to deal with the $1.6 billion shortfall

GENERALFUND30%

$7.7 Billion

Cutting $1.6 Billion out of this area of state funding would amount to a 20% across-the-board cut

However, there are even restrictions on the General Fund and those restrictions protect $5.1

billion of the total $7.7 billion from cuts. This uncuttable part of the budget is referred to as

“non-discretionary” spending

$2.6 Billion

$5.1Billion

This leaves 10% of the total state budget or about $2.6 billion to absorb the $1.6 billion in cuts needed to eliminate the projected FY 12

shortfall

$2.6 Billion

FEDERAL

DEDICATIONS

AGENCYFEES

NON-DISCRETIONARY

Higher Ed.37%

Health Care29%

All Other34%

Breakdown of Discretionary General Fund Budget

If the budget shortfall of $1.6 Billion could be cut from the total budget, the percentage cut to each department would be relatively small


Percent cut to total FY 11 budget to eliminate a $1.6 billion shortfall

Projected FY 12 Shortfall Total FY 11 Budget

Most Depts.Could Live With This


$1.6 billion $2.6 billion = 62%÷

Percent cut to FY 11 discretionary budget required to eliminate the $1.6 billion shortfall

Projected FY 12 Shortfall FY 11 DiscretionaryBudget

Most departments could NOT managethis level of a cut without a significant reduction in services

Unfortunately, 90% of the state’s budget is protected from cuts, so the shortfall must be absorbed by those departments that receive

discretionary appropriations and the percentage cut is very high

This is a tough problem and we’re almost ready to begin exploring the implications of dealing

with it, but there’s a little more background that still needs to be covered. First, there is the

issue of how the FY 11 budget was balanced

Gen.Fund

The General Fund revenue forecast for FY 11 was insufficient to support the continuation of programs

supported by the General Fund in FY 10

HealthCare Higher

Ed.

CorrectionsK-12

Econ.Dev.

StateParks

All Other Programs

So, federal stimulus funding (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) was added to the budget.

This brought the budget closer to balance but there was still a funding gap

ARRA

Gen.Fund

HealthCare

HigherEd.

CorrectionsK-12

Econ.Dev.

StateParks

All Other Programs

Gen.Fund

ARRA OneTime

In order to achieve the mandated balance required by the Constitution, it was necessary to also use “non-recurring” (a.k.a. one-time) funding

from a variety of sources

HealthCare

HigherEd.

Corrections

K-12

Econ.Dev.

StateParks

All Other Programs

$1.1 Billion

$458 millio

n

But, those ARRA and one-time monies will not be available in FY 12, and even though there is a

substantial increase in recurring revenue, there is a funding gap of $1.6 billion in that Fiscal Year

Gen.Fund

HealthCare Higher

Ed.

CorrectionsK-12

Econ.Dev.

StateParks

All Other Programs

$ 1.6 B Shortfall

The Final Bit Of Background Deals With The Projected Shortfall For FY 12

$ 1.6 B Shortfall

And What It Portends For Future Fiscal Years

On January 21st, the Division of Administration presented its revised 5-Year Budget Projection to the

Joint Budget Committee. The numbers are very instructive about the challenge facing the governor

and the legislature

Rev. Growth Rate 7.47% 4.79% 4.34% 6.18%

Notice that very large shortfalls occur in all four years despite strong revenue growth in an economy that’s still recovering from the recession

(in million $)

To emphasize just how deep the budget hole is, the revenue growth rates for FY 12, 13, and 14 were changed in the table below to match the growth rates Louisiana experienced in the

three years following Katrina to see how a return to the heydays of revenue growth would impact the shortfall

Rev. Growth Rate 8.8% 16.6% 4.34% 6.18%

At these growth rates, the dedication of the sales tax on motor vehicles to the Transportation Trust Fund would kick in beginning in FY 14

(in million $)

The preceding couple of slides show that the shortfall that will occur in FY 12 is likely to continue at approximately the same level

through FY 15 even with post-Katrina revenue growth rates unless permanent cuts are made to expenditures and/or revenues are increased above the projected growth

levels

Options for dealing with the FY 12 shortfall

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▪ New revenue – taxes

▪ New revenue – user fees

▪ Federal bailout -

▪ Cut constitutional dedications

▪ Cut statutory dedications

▪ Become more efficient

▪ Cut non-discretionary exp.

▪ Sell Assets

Governor says No!✔

✔ High Ed. $130 M

✔ Has own problems

✔ Trigger not met

✔ Can do - but political

Yes No

✔ Can do – not much $

✔ Can do – but political

Can do – one time $✔

Let’s look at the “yes” checks and see how those options might impact the FY 12 shortfall if utilized

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▪ New revenue – user fees

▪ Cut statutory dedications

▪ Become more efficient

▪ Cut non-discretionary exp.

▪ Sell Assets

✔ High Ed. $130 M

✔ Can do - political

Yes No

✔ Can do – not much $

✔ Can do - political

Can do – one time $✔

Option 1: New Revenue – User feesIn 1995, the Constitution was changed to require a two-thirds majority of the legislature for the enactment of a fee or the increase of an existing fee. Higher education has developed a proposal that would raise approximately $130 million in FY 12. Other departments of government collect user fees that could be priced to help offset part of the shortfall. Some of the other departments that could benefit by increasing fees would be:

AgricultureRecreation and TourismCorrectionsPublic SafetyHealth and Hospitals

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Option 2: Cut Statutory DedicationsThe FY 11 budget includes $4.6 billion worth of programs funded with statutory dedications. Most of the dedications are made by the Constitution and cannot be cut in FY 12 without a change to the Constitution. However, approximately $860 million of those dedications are made by statute and can be changed during any regular session of the legislature. Adding those dedications to the cuttable expenditure base would reduce the cut from 62% to 46%

Budget Shortfall FY 12 $ 1,600,000,000

Disc. Gen. Fund Budget $ 2,600,000,000 62%

Add: Statutory Dedications* $ 866,000,000 46%

Across-the BoardCuts Required

30

Option 3: Cut Non-Discretionary Expenditures That Are Not Constitutionally MandatedThe non-discretionary budget for FY 11 is $5.1 billion and all but about $1 billion is constitutionally mandated. There are good reasons (legally and politically) why these funds aren’t normally on the chopping block but tough times call for tough measures so let’s add them to the list.

Add: Non-discretionary $ 1,055,000,000 35%




Add: Statutory Dedications $ 866,000,000 46%

The items below are non-constitutionally mandated expenditures in the non-discretionary budget. Many of these expenditures

could be cut to help reduce the shortfall but most have a very high political profile and a few are closely monitored by

the U.S. Justice Department

▪ Minimum level custody and & care state inmates $343 M

▪ Aid/assistance for the developmentally disabled $169 M

▪ Housing of state prisoners in local jails $179 M

▪ Legislative and Judicial Branch expenditures $201 M

▪ Health insurance premiums for retired employees $110 M

▪ Rent and maintenance in state-owned buildings $ 28 M

▪ Supplemental pay for Assistant District Attorneys $ 25 M

▪ Total $1,055 M

Option 4: Become More EfficientState agencies have been under budget pressure for three years running and have picked most of the low hanging “efficiency” fruit. Since there’s always room for improvement, let’s suppose that there is still $100 million in General Fund savings that can be achieved through efficiencies in FY 12.



Add: Non-discretionary $ 1,055,000,000


Add: Statutory Dedications $ 866,000,000 43%

Less: Efficiencies $ (100,000,000)

33%

Option 5: Sell State AssetsIdeally, funds generated from the sale of assets should be put into non-recurring expenditures or be used to pay down debt that would reduce recurring expenses in future years. However, cuts of at least 32% across the board for agencies funded with discretionary funds, statutorily dedicated funds, and non-discretionary funds not constitutionally mandated would devastate many programs vital to the state’s economic security and the quality of life of its citizens. Using the proceeds from the sale of assets might get the state past an election year and buy some time for a more rational budget plan to be developed.

Remember this slide that was covered earlier. It is the most important one of the whole briefing. It says that the $1.6 billion shortfall will continue

through at least FY 15 unless there is a PERMANENT INCREASE IN REVENUE above what’s already in the forecast or a PREMANENT

REDUCTION IN EXPENDITURES

Rev. Growth Rate 7.47% 4.79% 4.34% 6.18%

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

The state has faced large budget shortfalls in the past

and was able to avoid significant curtailment of

services. Why might it be different this time?

1. The state is in its third year of budget cuts and downsizing. Budgets

are lean with little slack left to absorb additional cuts without significant reductions in services

2. As cuts shrink the size of the “discretionary” budget, the non-discretionary budget becomes a greater percentage of the General Fund budget. This change exposes departments in the “discretionary budget” to larger cuts

4. There are fewer options to infuse non-recurring funding into the revenue stream to stave off cuts because many of those options have already been used

3. The budget shortfall is not the result of a revenue forecast that is declining which would “trigger” access to constitutionally dedicated funds that could help mitigate the shortfall and legislation that would have increased the legislature’s access to those funds did not pass

5. The 2011 Regular Session precedes a state-wide election year and this makes all decisions more difficult

There is no question that tax cuts and dedications enacted over the past four years

have contributed to the shortfall. However, the legislature has enacted fewer tax cuts and

dedications in each of the recent years leading up to the FY 12 cliff year

When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!

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FY 12 Loss to the General Fund as a result of tax cuts and dedication legislation enacted since 2007*

2007 Regular Session -$508.8 Million

2008 Extra. Session -$283.0 Million

2008 Regular Session -$101.5 Million**

2009 Regular Session -$ 88.5 Million

2010 Regular Session -$ .1 Million

TOTAL FY 12 Impact -$981 .9 Million

* Source: Fiscal Notes Legislative Fiscal Office

* *Additional dedication of $166.3 million was delayed and not included in the revenue loss for this FY

The GeneralFund loss is at least this much annually going

forward

In addition to the projected shortfall, there are unmet needs and deferred dedications that must eventually be addressed

• Highways ($14 Billion approx.) - gasoline tax revenue grows at about 2% annually and highway construction and maintenance costs grow at about 6%

• UAL on Retiree Group Benefits ($11 Billion approx.) – this liability continues to grow because there are no active plans to deal with it

• Deferred maintenance on state buildings and college campuses ($4.3 Billion approx.)

• State self-insurance program - R.S. 42:851 ($1.2 Billion approx.)

UNMET NEEDS/DEFERRED DEDICATIONS

end of presentation

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louisiana cliff year

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