Missouri budget needs attention right now

Most Missourians aren't terribly concerned about the budget battle that gripped elected officials in Jefferson City for several weeks this year.

The head-butting between a governor who wanted higher taxes and a Republican-controlled legislature that insisted on spending cuts ended when Gov. Bob Holden signed budget bills he previously had vetoed, thereby avoiding a financial crisis unprecedented in the state's history.

For the most part, taxpaying Missourians expect schools to open again later this summer, highways to be passable, prisons to house and feed criminals and the state's bureaucracy to continue its red-tape policies without interruption.

So what if the governor says the budget he signed is nearly a quarter of a billion dollars out of whack?

The Republicans say it isn't.

And, even after some more school funding is withheld, it will be pretty much business as usual in the state capital.

"Business as usual" these days is as much about political advantage as it is about providing needed services at a cost the state's taxpayers can afford.

Next year is a key election year, one that will test the strength of the new GOP majority in the House and Senate and one that will ultimately determine whether Holden's tax-and-spend mantra will persuade voters to give him a second term.

Looking for angry voters

Holden's strategy rests on making the lack of state programs, services and financial support so unbearable that angry voters will flock to the polls and turn out the rascals who won't raise taxes and -- most important of all -- give the governor a mandate to continue pushing his we-need-higher-taxes agenda.

These would be the same angry voters who would have to be asked to approve any major statewide tax increase to pay for everything the governor wants. Gauging by their reaction to the recent power struggle over this year's state budget, these folks aren't anywhere near riled up enough to raise a hue and cry for more taxes.

But Missouri's financial future certainly needs a great deal of attention.

It's up to elected officials

And if voters are in no mood to grapple with government spending, then the state's elected officials have even more reason to do so.

By most estimates, the state will have to come up with $900 million next year in new dollars (state growth this year is expected to $150 million to $200 million) to replace one-time funding sources ($570 million), increasing Medicaid costs ($250 million) and one-time spending cuts.

Traditionally, the budget process begins in earnest in the fall when the governor's office begins to collect spending requests from the various state departments and agencies. The governor's budget is presented to the legislature in January, and legislators have about five months to tinker with revenue and spending projections before approving another budget.

Given the situation -- slow growth in state revenue, a $900 million budget gap from the get-go, rancorous political clashes in an election year -- sticking to the traditional approach to state budgeting this year would be disastrous.

The time for elected officials to get serious about the fiscal year 2005 state budget is right now.

The governor and legislative leaders have an opportunity to demonstrate they are serious about heading off financial calamity by working together now to negotiate -- in the best political tradition -- a blueprint for taxation and spending that will best serve the needs of Missourians for the future.