By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – Texas state agencies have begun responding to a request from Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick to cut their budgets by at least 7 percent for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The cuts were mandated by a growing budget shortfall for the remainder of 2003 and for the upcoming biennium. For the remainder of the current fiscal year, the shortfall is in the neighborhood of $1.8 billion. For the remainder of the current year and the 2004-05 biennium, that figure is upwards of $10.5 billion.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he is pleased that so many state agencies have achieved the 7 percent or more budget savings for the current fiscal year. "Many, including the Texas Legislature, have been completely successful in achieving the targeted savings, and the degree of cooperation across state government in this challenging period is encouraging," he said. "Some agencies have sought a complete or partial waiver. We will work closely with those to verify their judgment or, alternatively, to help them find the target spending reductions."
The "Big Three" in state government asked state agency heads to submit their plans in writing as to how they could achieve the proposed 7 percent reduction in spending at their respective agencies.