On the same day lawmakers declined to submit a budget recommendation for the upcoming legislative session, the director of the legislative budget office decided to step down from his position.
On Wednesday, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee adjourned without releasing a starting point for the state’s budget going into the 2024 session as committee members were unable to reach a deal with Gov. Tate Reeves last month.
Hours after the meeting, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and outgoing House Speaker Philip Gunn announced the resignation of Tony Greer, who has been director of the legislative budget office for seven years.
“Tony’s leadership of the Legislative Budget Office has been an invaluable asset to policymakers in assessing state government’s financial position and his wise counsel will be missed,” the statement read, adding that the move will go into effect Dec. 31. “The legislature and the state of Mississippi are better because of his service.”
While it is unknown if the ongoing squabble between lawmakers and the governor played any role in Greer’s decision to leave, a budget has to be adopted by the committee and Reeves in order for the governor to submit the annual Executive Budget Recommendation (EBR) before Jan. 31.
The two parties will have to work through a $113 million difference as Reeves wants to see the state’s personal income tax reduced further, or even fully eliminated.
Lawmakers, on the other hand, have so far been in favor of setting the budget at $7.5 billion as committee members have argued they believe the estimate would be much closer to what the state’s revenue is projected to look like in FY 2025.
This could be the first time since Reeves took office in 2020 that he and lawmakers have not been able to agree on the annual executive budget recommendation going into the session.
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