Holden would use savings fund

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Casting it as a "moral choice," Gov. Bob Holden asked lawmakers Wednesday to spend $135 million from Missouri's savings account to assure uninterrupted state services ranging from psychiatry to passenger trains.

Holden said the services are critical and that compassionate Missourians would want to keep them going, even at the expense of nearly emptying the state's so-called Rainy Day Fund.

The biggest chunk of spending, $56 million, would be to continue psychiatric community services. An additional $16 million would preserve alcohol and drug abuse treatment, and $20 million would continue community programs for the developmentally disabled.

The entire $4.8 million state outlay for Amtrak also would be funded through state reserves, keeping passenger trains moving between St. Louis and Kansas City.

If the funding isn't approved, those programs will be cut, Holden said.

"This is a rainy day for Missouri," the Democratic governor told reporters after presenting a $19 billion proposed budget that includes recession-driven cuts of $480 million from the current spending plan.

The Rainy Day Fund is a voter-established savings account that may be used for two purposes -- smoothing state cash flows and confronting crises.

To pay bills on a timely basis if revenues plummet, the account's entire balance may be tapped by a governor. So far this budget year, about $150 million of the account's $458 million starting balance has been used by Holden's administration, leaving just more than $300 million.

The savings account's second use is to deal with major unforeseen problems. There's a catch: Just half of the available balance can be used for crisis spending.