WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Budget increases not possible, state lawmakers say

Budget increases not possible, state lawmakers say

By Ashley Porter - email

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - Dozens of large packets of paper covered tabletops Tuesday, as state lawmakers returned to Jackson for a second day of budget hearings.

Those thousands of pages were Tuesday morning's budget requests submitted by state agencies. The hearings continue until Thursday.

"I can't imagine any increases [in funding to state agencies] at all," said Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant.

And Tuesday, legislators started to make it very clear that not all wishes will be granted next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2010.

"No raises in the legislature, no raises in any state government," Bryant said. 

He tells WLBT that the legislature will likely look back into a hospital tax, dive into rainy day funds, and of course, cut spending.

"You won't see any tax increases. It's going to be a reduction in government," Bryant said.

But those cuts are a struggle when state agencies want increases.

"We have an access to care problem in the state of Mississippi for people that are affected by mental illness, mental retardation, alcohol and drug problems," said Ed LeGrand, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. 

On Tuesday, the Department of Mental Health asked for a $50 million increase. A lot of that money is to replace federal funding that will soon run out.

"Now the fact of the matter is $50 million is daunting and impossible," said State Representative D. Stephen Holland, D-Plantersville. 

"Without a change in the system, it's going to be difficult to get a dime," said State Senator Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo. 

And without a dime, lawmakers worry what could happen to the state's mental health system.

"You may institutionalize a person and get them in pretty good shape and then turn them out to a system that can not take care of them anymore," Holland said. "So the door revolves and they go right back in the institution."