Gov. Mike Parson raised a lot of eyebrows late last month when he struck funding for roughly 200 items from Missouri’s roughly $51.8 billion budget, vetoing everything from major construction projects at community colleges to a project that would spruce up a pond at a Ballwin park.
Parson contended that he wanted to prevent future budgetary difficulties when Missouri’s finances may not be as robust as they are now. But some Republican members of the legislature are furious with his decision-making and say they may try the unusual step of trying to override Parson’s vetoes in September.
Sen. Nick Schroer, for instance, said he was especially incensed by Parson’s decision to veto a number of projects in St. Charles County — including measures aimed at bolstering public safety and cleaning up drinking water. The St. Charles County Republican went so far as to say that residents there “were betrayed.”
“They just set aside all the hard work thrown in the garbage can — line item vetoed with zero explanation,” Schroer said. “And I stand with all of my colleagues. One hundred percent of us in the St. Charles County delegation are irate at how this all went down.”
Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, also was disappointed by Parson’s vetoes — notably funding for the City of St. Louis meant to clamp down on crime.
“Generally vetoes of budget items are supposed to be if there's a problem with the item, or if, more importantly, we don't have the money for it,” said Merideth, ranking member on the House Budget Committee. “In this case, in most of these cases, the governor didn't point to problems. And he acted as if we were short on funds, when we've got more money left over than we've ever had before.”
In many instances, Parson said he was vetoing line items because, among other things, the state would be losing roughly $300 million because of tax cut-related legislation. He also wrote that Missouri “has consistently maintained a AAA bond rating, and we will ensure a blanched budget for years to come.”
But what Merideth was alluding to was how Missouri still has a huge general revenue surplus that can be spent on basically anything. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, said that surplus is currently around $2 billion — which he said is unprecedented.
“With the governor's vetoes, I appreciate that he is keeping an eye on the state's budget, fiscal health and our credit rating,” Smith said. “However, I disagree that this is the difference between us being able to manage that or not. We still have a lot of money unexpended.”
Source: krcu.org
Photo Credit: gettyimages-sinartcreative
Categories: Missouri, Education, Government & Policy