By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Legislature's top fiscal expert is making a budget forecast for 2010 that's worse than this year.
The director of the Legislative Fiscal Office, Joyce Bigbee, said it appears this year's $6.3 billion education budget will have to be cut $360 million due to declining tax revenue, and next year's budget will have to be $341 million smaller than this year's trimmed-back budget.
That's a cut of more than $700 million in two years.
She said this year's General Fund budget will have to be trimmed from $2 billion to $1.8 billion due to declining revenue. Then next year's may have to be cut to $1.4 billion.
Bigbee made the forecast to legislators on the first day of their annual budget hearings in Montgomery.
Lawmakers said the forecast likely means fewer state employees and teachers.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)