JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
During a time when finances are tight at the state capitol, lawmakers got a bit of good news Tuesday morning. State revenue collections are up and higher than projected.
"In Mississippi, revenues have continued to outpace expectations," said State Economist Darrin Webb.
Webb brought the news to the joint legislative budget committee and because of the higher than expected revenue, recommended lawmakers add nearly $100 million to this year's budget and about $130 million to next year's, which begins July 1st.
Committee members approved that recommendation.
"I don't want you to be misled. The economy has not suddenly taking off. Rather, we have avoided a recession and continue to grow at a slow pace," said Webb.
The state may have dodged a financial bullet but Webb says the economy is still weak by historical standards and risks still remain. Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves says the increase is a small amount compared to the overall $4.7 billion state budget and it doesn't mean cuts are off the table.
"This is not going to be a major boom for agencies who want to spend more money, we're still going to see cuts almost without exception," said Reeves.
Reeves says some of those cuts could end up being less than expected. When it comes to any potential cuts to education and healthcare, House and Senate Democrats are coming out against the recommended budget from Governor Phil Bryant which does just that.
Representative Cecil Brown says with a newly increased budget, level funding should be the minimum.
"We need to take that money and put it where it can do the most good for the most number of people in the state of Mississippi and that's in education and healthcare," said Brown, a Democrat from Jackson.
At this point there's no budget outline in place and won't be until lawmakers take up appropriation bills, but Democrats say they want to make sure their Republican counterparts understand their requests before a blueprint is in place.
"We are simply not going to expect a budget that's got one penny less for community colleges, universities and public schools than last year's budget did," said Senator Hob Bryan, a Democrat from Amory.
Lawmakers have until the end of April to adopt a final version of the budget.
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