With so many bad reviews of action, or inaction, by the 2017 Legislature, there is at least some reason to be pleased with the state budget, the main task of lawmakers.
The administration of Gov. John Bel Edwards pointed to the budget — largely fashioned by the governor and his allies in the Republican-led state Senate — as one that has avoided the gimmicks and use of one-time money to pay for recurring expenses. This was a characteristic of the budget policies of former Gov. Bobby Jindal; Edwards inherited a mess on the budget front and has often been at odds with Republican leaders in the state House, so fixes have been hard to come by.
Aside from the administration, though, more disinterested observers believe the new budget year that began July 1 is going to produce a sounder financial plan for the state.
"Although arguments are made that it has not been downsized enough while others are concerned about shortchanging public services, this budget is one of the more solid and transparent plans we have seen in a long while," reported the Public Affairs Research Council.
Among the accomplishments of the budget are fully funding the popular TOPS tuition waivers for many college students, providing for a new State Police cadet class, opening a new juvenile justice center idled for lack of operating funds, and a $17 million base pay increase for state employees.
Also, we would add, there is some good news for higher education: Colleges are escaping state cuts for the first time in nearly a decade, though many campuses still are raising fees on students for the 2017-18 school year, fees that aren't covered by TOPS and must be paid out of pocket by families.
PAR's does not gloss over the problems, including the disastrous potential of a "fiscal cliff" when temporary sales taxes and other revenue-raisers expire in the fiscal year beginning next July. That is a deadline that is not far away, but the Legislature is still far away from a rewrite of the tax code that will make h's financial position more stable and fairer.
But as PAR noted, the tax base was eroded under Jindal at the same time as fund balances were depleted, debt was manipulated to allow borrowed money to subsidize the operating budget, and casual use of one-time money for day to day expenses. PAR might well have added Jindal's raiding of the highway trust fund to operate State Police, thus freeing up more money to cover the operating budget for the state.
"This budget gimmickry grew to mammoth proportions and became a formula for fiscal instability, poorer credit ratings, soaring college tuition and eventually tax increases," PAR said. "In fact, all of those outcomes were achieved."
We agree with PAR's warnings about the prospects ahead, but we should also acknowledge that Edwards and his budget chieftain Jay Dardenne have worked with Senate leaders on a more coherent and financially responsible approach. It's not the big fix that the Legislature should have achieved in 2017, but we should not make the perfect the enemy of the good, at least for a while.
Repeatedly hitting a wall of opposition from House Republicans, Gov. John Bel Edwards is try…