JACKSON — Under the pavilion at the Neshoba County Fair last month, politicians touted their achievements as always. But there were very few in the way of new proposals. Except for state Treasurer Lynn Fitch, who made two very specific proposals.
One was a call for a state law requiring women doing equal work receive equal pay to men.
The second was a call for Mississippi to enact a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.
“We want, we deserve, and we must have, a balanced budget amendment in our constitution,” the second-term Republican treasurer said.
Mississippi already has a requirement for a balanced budget every year. The part of state law setting out Mississippi’s budgeting process states in part that planned expenditures “shall not exceed the amount of estimated revenues that will be available in the general and special funds for appropriation or use during the succeeding fiscal year.”
Fitch, though, argued that’s not enough. She pointed to problems with the budget that lawmakers enacted for the year that began July 1. Lawmakers adopted a spending plan that overestimated revenues by $56 million after legislative staffers counted some money that would no longer be collected. Then Attorney General Jim Hood issued a series of opinions saying lawmakers couldn’t take $72 million from various trust funds and spend it.
“We’re already $130 million in debt, so we’ve got to balance the budget,” Fitch said at the fair.
The situation could get worse. Tax collections for the 2017 budget got off to a slow start in July, with taxes collected by the Revenue Department ending up $14 million below estimated amounts. Also, Medicaid and some other mandatory expenses are underfunded, meaning lawmakers are likely to have to backfill deficits in those programs.
Fitch said she’d like to see lawmakers propose the amendment to voters, which would require a two-thirds vote in each house. However, she reserved the possibility that she would launch a petition drive to go through the arduous process for voters to propose an amendment.
The details of Fitch’s proposal remain unclear. She said she’s drafting language based on examples in other states, and doesn’t know, for example, if it would apply only to general fund spending or all state accounts. Marston said Fitch might not oppose language allowing overspending in an emergency, but thinks, for example, lawmakers have gotten too willing to waive a law requiring they set aside 2 percent of revenue as a reserve each year.
