Missouri’s surplus is running out

By Jason Hancock | Editor-in-Chief

Good morning,

For the past few years, Missouri lawmakers have been able to make the budget math work by leaning on a historic surplus.

That cushion is almost gone.

State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick is now warning that Missouri is headed toward deep cuts unless spending is brought back in line with tax collections. The question is no longer whether the state can keep using one-time money to cover ongoing costs. It’s what happens when it can’t.

That pressure is already showing up across state government.

Missouri higher education officials have until Dec. 1 to design a new formula for dividing state aid among public colleges and universities. But lawmakers gave them a difficult assignment: create a more objective system without adding more money.

In other words, the state’s fiscal squeeze is moving from spreadsheets into real decisions.

by Rudi Keller

Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick says Missouri must bring spending in line with tax collections or risk emergency reductions to state services.

by Annelise Hanshaw

Lawmakers ordered the state to devise a new way to divide more than $1.1 billion among public colleges — without increasing the overall pot.

by Jennifer Shutt

President Trump bolstered funding for immigration enforcement with a nearly $70 billion package to keep key federal agencies operating without any new restrictions.

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