WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Lawmakers approve first draft of 2009 budget
Member Center:
JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - State lawmakers have approved a first draft of next year's budget. It's even slimmer than Governor Barbour's budget proposal. It was crafted under current tax structure and includes no new tobacco taxes.
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee projects just under $5 billion in spending for the fiscal year beginning in July. Its plan would freeze 4,600 currently-vacant state jobs. And like the governor's plan, it offers no pay hikes for state employees.
But the lawmakers do pipe more cash into the Public Employees Retirement System.
And this budget would give Mississippi's Adequate Education Program almost $61 million in new funding, a priority also on Barbour's draft.
The full House and Senate convene next month. They're due to approve a final budget by April.
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