By Mead Gruver ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHEYENNE,
Wyo. – A two-year state budget proposed Nov. 18 by Wyoming Gov. Mark
Gordon would avoid further agency spending cuts for now but dip into a reserve
fund to make ends meet amid declining revenue.
The $3.1
billion budget for 2021-2022 would also slash construction funding from amounts
sought by state entities while leaving just a thin overall spending cushion for
most of state government.
Gordon’s
first budget since his election in 2018 invoked on its first page the Blizzard
of 1949, which killed a dozen people in Wyoming, as an example of the
state’s grit and perseverance amid hardship.
“It is a budget intended to prepare our state to meet the coming storm head-on,” the Republican governor wrote in a preface addressed to the Legislature. He warned that spending cuts for the upcoming biennium might be necessary.
Grim
assessments of the state’s finances have become almost routine
as Wyoming struggles with protracted declining revenue from coal and
natural gas production.
The budget
proposal shows that Wyoming sooner or later will need to consider new
revenue to handle permanent economic changes, said Chris Merrill, executive
director of the Equality State Policy Center state government watchdog group.
