Perry: It Ain’t Raining Yet

Gov. Rick Perry said last week he is opposed to drawing on Texas’ $8.2 billion rainy-day fund to ease a two-year state budget gap estimated to be at least $15 billion and as much as $27 billion.

Comptroller Susan Combs said Jan. 10 the state expects to have $72.2 billion of available general fund collections over the next two years.

“We will prioritize what’s important in this state,” said Perry, a Republican who is in his third term as governor. “We will fund those. We will craft a budget that meets those revenue projections, and not raise taxes nor get into the rainy-day fund.”

Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he would introduce a preliminary budget that is within the projected revenue range and does not use any money from the rainy-day fund.

Perry, Lieut. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, have asked state agencies to prepare for a 10% spending cut in the next two-year budget cycle.

“Texans understand the realities of these tight budgetary times,” Perry said last week after a meeting with Dewhurst and Strauss. “Just like Texas families and employers have been doing, we will tighten our belts in order to balance the budget.”

If the rainy-day fund is not used for the upcoming two-year budget, Combs said, it would total $9.4 billion at the end of fiscal 2013.

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