Confronted with a continuing drop in revenues, Gov. Bob Riley tapped Alabama’s rainy-day account for $123.8 million to stave off additional general fund spending cuts earlier this month. State agencies were already ordered to make 12% across-the-board cuts on April 30.
But Riley was faced with increasing the cuts to 20% because revenues continued to lag projections when he decided to dip into reserves instead. He did not make a public announcement about the decision, according to the Birmingham News.
The rainy-day account had approximately $180 million before the recent withdrawal, the paper reported.