The state's gross balance after the 2009-'10 fiscal year was less than a quarter of previous projections, according to a memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau sent to the Joint Finance Committee.
According to Bruce Lang, director of the LFB, they were initially projecting a balance of $335 million and ended up with only $71 million.
The $265 million shortfall is due to a $43 million decrease in departmental revenues and increased net expenditures $222 million.
The biggest cost for the 2009-'10 fiscal year was the medical assistance program. The MA program, which provides medical care for children under the age of 19, the elderly and disabled, spent $207 million over their budget, according to the LFB.
Because of this spending by the MA program, the funding for the program for the 2009-'11 biennium will be short by $148 million.
The Department of Health Services will attempt to partially make up for this shortfall by seeking approval to re-allocate a $20 million surplus from the state's Senior Care program and to delay $44 million in payments, Lang said in the report.
Lang said the goal for the next fiscal year is to wind up with a balance of $45 million by whatever means necessary and prevent too much further degrading of the state's balance.
The fiscal year saw minor departmental increases, specifically from tribal gaming revenues and fees collected by the Department of Financial Institutions, according to the LFB's report.
—Ariel Shapiro
