Happy New Missouri Fiscal Year!
At the stroke of midnight Fiscal Year 2020 gave way to Fiscal Year 2021.
And, this morning, the state issued the Daily General Revenue Report for June 30, 2020.
Remember, in the spring of 2019 the Missouri legislature projected a surge in revenue in FY 2020, allowing more money to be spent on state functions. That plan hit some bumps but things completely fell apart with the COVID-19 lock-down.
By the end of the Fiscal Year, instead of growing by hundreds of millions of dollars the state’s General Revenue came up a net $633,836,284.17 short – 6.62% below the total raised in Fiscal Year 2019. That’s effectively better than a billion dollar gap.
Now, things get bad.
As reported by the Columbia Missourian and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on the last day of FY 2020 accidental governor Mike Parson announced new, major cuts in state funding. For example, the governor slashed $70 million from prescription drugs for Medicaid patients, $123 million from elementary and secondary schools and another $28 million from higher education: these are the third wave of cuts to education since March.
During a recession more Missourians get helped by Department of Social Services programs such as food stamps and Medicaid…also included in the governor’s cuts: 200 middle manager position in DSS. That won’t be a good thing. And, after Missouri voters approve Medicaid Expansion in November, DSS must cover at least 100,000 more citizens and process their claims.
Oh yes, the legislature voted to raise the reimbursement for state employees using their cars for their work by 6¢ per mile. Missouri at 51¢ would have remained below the federal rate of 57.5¢ per mile. Nope, Parson line item vetoed that, meaning state workers continue to get just 45¢ per mile. (The workers aren’t getting their promised 2% raise either.)
Of course, more cuts to FY 2021 spending are probably coming – I suspect a lot of reductions will be announced around Wednesday, November 4, 2020.
MISSOURI FISCAL YEAR GENERAL REVENUE COLLECTIONS
2020 2019
Individual Income Tax $ 6,952,200,245.70 $ 7,646,941,371.26 - 9.09%
Sales & Use Taxes $ 2,276,390,127.42 $ 2,237,149,578.71
Corporate Taxes $ 463,130,899.75 $ 526,566,306.34
County Foreign Ins, $ 293,426,175.08 $ 293,213,210.03
Other $ 231,334,948.88 $ 225,080,826.61
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Total General Revenue $10,216,482,396.93 $10,928,951,292.95
Tax Refunds $ 1,262,913,397.35 $ 1,346,855,872.64
Debt Offset $ 20,049,382.40 $ 14,973,519.06
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Net General Revenue $ 8,933,519,617.08 $ 9,567,355,901.25 - 6.62%
Happy New Year!
Glenn