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September 29, 2007
Governor begins FY 2008 Budget review process Gov. John deJongh, Jr. met Saturday with Office of Management and Budget Director Debra Gottlieb, Finance Commissioner Claudette Watson-Anderson and key members of the Government House Senior Staff to begin the process of reviewing the Fiscal Year 2008 budget bills passed by the 27th Legislature in formal session a week ago. The bills arrived at Government House from the Senate on Friday, September 28th The majority of the bills were approved by the Governor and the Senate will be formally advised of his actions on Monday. deJongh did express concern that the Senate’s action to reduce by $6 million contributions to the General Fund from the Transportation Trust Fund could yield an unbalanced budget for the FY 2008. The governor also expressed concerns at another action of the Senate, which if approved, would leave some employees of the Department of Housing, Parks and Recreation (DHPR) without funding for their salaries and fringe benefits. "The Administration’s budget proposal provided an appropriation to the Housing Finance Authority (HFA) to cover those Housing employees that would relocate from DHPR to HFA under proposed legislation. The Senate removed the increased funding to HFA and at the same time only funded DHPR at levels proposed to cover a new department of Sports, Parks and Recreation. “This apparent error must be corrected and I will be speaking with members of the Senate in our effort to resolve the issue," deJongh said Saturday. The Office of Management and Budget is conducting a detailed analysis on the Senate’s version of the budget ahead of another meeting deJongh has scheduled for late Monday afternoon to continue the review process. In accordance with Section 9(e) of the Revised Organic Act of 1954 as amended, the FY2007 budget will be rolled over and be in effect at the start of the new Fiscal Year on Monday ,October 1. deJongh has until October 10th to take final action on the bills received Friday at Government House, including the FY 2008 budget. |
