Receipts to General Fund down 8.3 percent: "
By John Cheves - jcheves@herald-leader.com
Receipts to Kentucky's General Fund dropped 8.3 percent in December 2009 compared to December 2008, State Budget Director Mary Lassiter said Friday. Total revenue for last month was $787 million, compared to $858 million for the same month a year earlier, Lassiter said.
Receipts are now down 4.6 percent for the first half of fiscal year 2010, she said. Projections call for a 2.7 percent revenue decline for the year. To meet that forecast, revenue can decline only 0.8 percent over the last six months of the fiscal year.
'December's negative revenue report is a stark reminder that recessionary economic times continue to prevail,' Lassiter said in a statement.
This week, Gov. Steve Beshear announced that he would plug a $108 million budget shortfall for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends June 30, with a combination of 3 percent spending cuts in some state agencies, transfers from other funds and the use of one-time federal stimulus money." From the Herald-Leader