Budget Wrangling Costs Taxpayers

Lawmakers work at the capital last week cost taxpayers around 100 thousand dollars, and there still isn’t an agreement on next fiscal year’s budget. MPB’s Stephen Koranda breaks down the costs of the political wrangling.

Lawmakers spent 4 days at the Capital, at the rate of nearly 20 thousand dollars a day, but that’s not the only cost. Legislative staff members say travel to get legislators to Jackson sets the state back thousands more, bringing the cost for the 4 days of work to around 100 thousand dollars. Senator Terry Brown of Columbus repeatedly called last week for lawmakers to leave the capital.

“The problem is we we’re getting nothing done. Nothing was happening. You had conferees in conference doing the work, and you had us out her e drawing a per diem every day doing nothing.”

Vacating Jackson is exactly what the two chambers agreed to do Friday, leaving only a handful of budget negotiators to keep working on a compromise. Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant says while the costs may seem high, the tough financial times mean a poorly written budget could cost the state big money.

“I know the media and citizens are concerned about your‘re spending money every day. Well, do they want us to walk away from a budget that would put us hundreds of millions of dollars in debt? I don’t think so.”

Negotiators have until Wednesday to come to an agreement. The full legislature will return then with the hopes of voting on a compromise. If there isn’t an agreement, the only option may be a costly special session.