BRADENTON, Fla. - Louisiana plans to implement $103.5 million in mid-year budget cuts to eliminate a deficit blamed primarily on the decline in oil prices.
Transportation and health care-related budgets will take the biggest hits under the plan Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration submitted to legislators.
The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget will review the plan to eliminate the shortfall on Feb. 20.
Nearly half of the plan prepared by Administration Commissioner Kristy Nichols also relies on "revenue opportunities" such as using $11.1 million from excess state revenue collections and $9 million from the Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly.
"The decline in oil prices means putting everything on the table and making tough decisions about our spending in order to have a balanced budget," Nichols said. "We will continue to make reductions to ensure we are not spending more than we take in."
Nichols said her plan includes strategic reductions to balance the current year budget and put the state in a position to create savings in the 2016 budget, which is projected to have a gap of $1.6 billion.
Some $1 billion of the gap is due to one-time measures with non-recurring revenues.
The current budget shortfall, the second identified since the fiscal 2015 year began, is due largely to a decline in the price of a barrel of oil by more than 50%.
The decline has reduced the state's severance tax and royalty revenue in the current year by $275 million.
Moody's Investors Service said on Feb. 2 that plummeting oil and gas revenue collections in Louisiana are a credit negative for the state.
As part of current budget adjustments, 100 full and part-time state employees in the state's park system were laid off on Feb. 6.
The largest individual state agency budget cuts will be $16.5 million in the Department of Transportation and Development and $13.5 million in the Department of Health and Hospitals.
Some lawmakers have warned that state parks may be closed in the coming fiscal year that begins July 1.
The Louisiana Legislature will tackle the 2016 budget during its upcoming session, which starts April 13 and runs through June 11.
