Combination of factors has led to state's fiscal problems

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first in a series on the declining fiscal fortunes of Missouri's state government and their effect on delivery of services.

By Jack Stapleton Jr. ~ Southeast Missourian

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Now you see it, now you don't. In a brief period of time that was as surprising as revolutionary, Missouri's state government went from annual increases in services and programs to a bare-bones budget that will impact services provided by virtually all of its 16 departments.

This downgrading of public services and programs is much more severe than occurred in previous recessionary periods, not only because of a slower economy highlighted by lower salary checks and large-scale employee layoffs.

What makes the current fiscal crisis more severe than normally is a series of steps taken in previous years that sought to soften the blow of cash imbalances, but which in reality has only served to exacerbate them.

The first, and one of the major, triggers to today's economic crisis was the fallout from terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, on New York City and Washington, D.C. Even before these attacks, however, the state's ability to continue expansion of its service delivery systems was being called into question. The economy was drooping, but the worst was yet to come, and despite the tragedy that had occurred, few of Missouri's 5.6 million citizens were directly affected. At least initially.

The immediate impact of the Sept. 11 attacks was felt by the state's airlines, but this was just the tip of the iceberg. Not only were Americans flying less, their fear caused a cooling off period for one of Missouri's major industries: Tourism. Almost immediately, the state's hospitality and travel segments reacted by taking the first steps to that would soon send jobless rates in the state to near-record highs.

Felt almost as quickly was the national industrial slowdown, which had already made its appearance in Missouri with expected job layoffs into auto manufacturing plants in St. Louis and Kansas City, while the state's once-largest industrial operation, formerly McDonnell Douglas and now Boeing, had to be content with assembling cockpit and landing gear components for commercial aircraft. The demand for such equipment became almost nonexistent as airlines began a series of cancellations for new planes that had been deemed necessary prior to the attacks on Sept. 11.

Next: How political efforts to reduce demands on available state budget dollars eventually produced the opposite result.