Mead: Brace for budget cuts

Governor Matt Mead is telling state agencies to prepare for budget cuts.  The governor claims that Wyoming’s future revenues are expected to flatten out or even decrease in the next few years. Mead says the budget he’s preparing for next two years takes that prediction into account.

“The fact is over the last decade our spending on the standard budget has more than doubled," the governor said. "Over that period of time, the state of Wyoming has done some tremendous things, but we can’t continue to double it every ten years.”

Earlier this month, the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee warned state agencies that 8 percent budget cuts could be on the horizon, but Mead says cuts of that size could have unintended consequences.

“So, I asked agencies themselves to look at two percent and see what those numbers look like," Mead said. "On top of that, working with agencies we’ve already made some cuts to standard budgets for these agencies. We’re going to look, when we meet with the Legislature and the Joint Appropriations Committee, at what the right number is.”

The governor will present his budget to the Legislature on December 1.