(Texas) Almost $1 billion less in state’s rainy day fund

[ccharles000]

Texas’ piggy bank will be almost $1 billion lighter than expected, according to a report released last week by Texas Comptroller Susan Combs.

Combs revised her estimate for the so-called rainy day fund to $8.2 billion, down from her January projection of $9.1 billion.

The primary culprit is falling natural gas prices, which will lead to less production and thus less tax revenue.

Every dollar in the rainy day fund matters because that money is seen as key to plugging some of the budget hole that is expected to greet legislators when they return to Austin in 2011.

Legislators kept their hands off that fund when writing the current two-year budget in anticipation of much leaner times down the road.

Federal stimulus money totaling $12 billion helped to make that restraint possible, but those dollars will most likely not be available come 2011.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/11/30/almost_1_billion_less_in_state.html?cxntfid=blogs_postcards

[ccharles000]

1. kick

[bridgit]

2. Whoopsy