Tuesday, May 10, 2016

The $56.8 million error

Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and Leftenant Governor Tate Reeves issued the following statement:

Statement of Legislative Leadership

"Late last week, we were made aware of a staff error that led to expected general fund revenues to be overestimated by $56.8 million during the FY2017 budget negotiations,” said Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves and Speaker Philip Gunn in a joint statement. “This error has no impact on the current year budget.

“As a reminder, the Legislature anticipates unallocated balances of an approximate total of $490 million, including $347.7 million in the Working Cash Stabilization Reserve Fund, $32.8 million in the Capital Expense Fund, and $108.5 million in the Budget Contingency Fund,” they continued. “Unless revenues outperform expectations during the first six months of the next fiscal year, this anticipated shortfall will be addressed during the 2017 legislative session."
 

56 comments:

Numbers Guy said...

Oops! (Again!)

Echo said...

Mississippi Business Journal

Anonymous said...

So, Tate's numbers don't add up? I thought he was the "numbers guy"--guess that Millsaps Accounting Degree didn't "pay off" like he brags about. Delbert would never let this sh*t happen.

Anonymous said...

Chris Anderson, CEO of MBMC, made an $88 million plus "error" at Singing River Hospital.

Anonymous said...

I understand. I made the same mistake in my checking account last month. Hope your bank understands a little better than mine.

Anonymous said...

Some of this must be going to Ole Miss recruiting class.

Anonymous said...

[/removes bong gas mask] Oops.

Anonymous said...

And then add the lawyer fees over the airport and wedding cake lawsuits

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Tate a bank teller before diving into politics?

Anonymous said...

Tax cuts in a depressed state economy plus a pork barrel big spending bond bill plus a $56MM error equals potentially devastating results in 2017. Tate is again sound asleep at the wheel. What's next Tate?



Anonymous said...

Any chance this was on purpose? I mean tator tot NEEDED to push this tax cut through....

Anonymous said...

Anyone who complains about tax cuts in general, for whatever reason, is automatically moot.

The business of government has grown into a monstrosity that does nothing for the average person and invites various parties to take turns eating from the trough.

Anonymous said...

Immediately blames a staffer who makes a quarter of his salary. That's leadership right there.

Anonymous said...

@ May 10, 2016 at 4:20 PM
And who is probably about to get laid off due to budget cuts.

Col A Plus Col B said...

4:20; Did you assume Reeves was sitting in a room with a Texas Instruments calculator tabulating all these numbers himself?

Does the owner of McDonald's come in after the late shift and count the cash drawer or does he depend on staff to do that?

Dummy!

Anonymous said...

If memory serves me correctly, there are five members of the committee that comes up with the recommendation:
1) The State Treasurer Lynn Fitch
2) Director of Revenue Ed Morgan
3) DFA Director Kevin Upchurch
4) LBO representative
5) State Economist Darwin Webb

These give people make the recommendation as to the final figure. Which of their staff screwed up. They are supposed to be the "experts"!

Anonymous said...

Does the owner of McDonald's come in after the late shift and count the cash drawer or does he depend on staff to do that?

If you really knew how closely truly successful fast food franchisees pay attention to their cash flows you probably wouldn't have made such an asinined comment.

It wouldn't be some mere finance clerk, line level manager or Budgeting Director getting fired at Trustmark for a mistake that large.

Reeves doesn't get to have it both ways. He's either a financial pro or he is not. Blaming the numbers on staff is the sign of a weak ass leader.

Dummy!

Anonymous said...

Tate Reeves looked the other way, or didn't know what he was looking at, while MPACT dove into the red so this is no surprise as his financial wizardry has always been more spin than substance. Despite @5:09's attempt to implicate others by casting a wide guilt-by-association net the budget buck stops squarely with Tate Reeves and Philip Gunn. @5:09 can bet the last penny in their meager pocket that if this was a screwup in Lynn Fitch's shop Tate Reeves would have come out blazing and identified the departmental source of the error. The LBO and JLBC are TIGHTLY controlled by Lt. Gov. and the Speaker. They don't get to take a Mulligan on this. They want to wait for the 2017 legislative session in an effort to bury their mistake in 2017 legislative session. The amateurs are in charge.

Col A Plus Col B said...

He didn't blame 'the numbers' on staff, dummy. He blamed the error on staff. If you'd every worked in a menial job where cash drawers are counted out at shift start and end, you'd know. I have. You obviously have not. Business owners don't come in and count cash drawers two or three times a day. That's why they hire shift managers and others to entrust with that task.

These gubment monetary shell games don't amount to jack-shit anyway, as we all know. And it's without regard to party.

Anonymous said...

4:48
YES! The successful owners come in and count the cash drawers if they want to keep their businesses. If you are in charge, then dammit, be in charge. Quit blaming someone else for your dumbassed-ness. And, 4:48, while you're at it, take your lips off Tater's ass for just one minute. Take a breath.

Anonymous said...

Maybe a head should roll at the voting poll.

Anonymous said...

But these Rankinites want to take over Jackson. No, it should be settled their way: A Mustang race down Lakeland.

Anonymous said...

ATTENTION CITIZENS:

Do not panic. We have the budget situation completely under control. Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, we understand basic arithmetic. Everything will be fine, and will not turn to shit like it did in Louisiana and Kansas. Trust us. Your future is in the very best, chubbiest little baby hands.

Anonymous said...

So it turns out what so many have blamed on "Democrats" turns out to be a problem with "politicians."

Anonymous said...

Do I have this correct? Anonymous Col A Plus Col B
worked menial jobs but knows definitively what
owners of McDonalds stores do and do not?
Gotta love that Tater brain trust.

Anonymous said...

So who made the mistake? The Butler Snow contract employee?

Anonymous said...

Butler Snow has people on contract that do the budget?

Anonymous said...

3:30, and the guy who coined the term "asinined," win this thread.

Anonymous said...

Staff Error? Was his name Chet Wallaby? Where's Harry Truman when you need him?

Anonymous said...

nope 9:45pm the citizens of Mississippi lose...again

Anonymous said...

The Senators were too concerned with maintaining their campaign slush funds and finding the best location at fairground for their RV to be distracted by state budget . Heads will roll when the bonds, tax cuts, and "staff errors" come home to roost.

Anonymous said...

We have a legislature that reflects our values. Drive down any Mississippi back road and you'll see it - a falling down house, litter and weeds in the yard, and a nice pick-up or fancy rims out front, and of course a satellite dish.

We've just expanded that vision statewide. Ignore infrastructure and let it fall apart. Refuse to do the hard work to increase revenue. Spend money on the latest glittering bauble - tax giveaways to foreign companies and the wealthy.

I can't nickname our legislature without offending some group of people, but you get the idea.

Anonymous said...

The amount of that "error" is 10x the annual budget of the state agency for which I work. Wow.

Anonymous said...

Y'all voted for him. I voted for the truck driver and company. They couldn't have done any worse.

Anonymous said...

"increase revenue" = raise taxes

Government doesn't produce revenue.

Anonymous said...

It is way too much to ask Gunn and Reeves to do the math when promoting their God, gays and guns agenda (HB 1523 et al) takes all their possible time and attention.

Now that the Courts are well on their way to finding 1523 unconstitutional, what will Gunn and Reeves have to show for their efforts? A big damn hole in our State's budget and services.

Anonymous said...

8:38 am: Gunn and Reeves failing HB 1523 also leave us with national embarrassment and a hit to our economy that greatly compounds
the hole they leave open in the State budget and State services.

Anonymous said...

8:37

Using the common terms of our current administration - "Mississippi Department of Revenue." You can define revenue any way you want, but we need to fund infrastructure.

Anonymous said...

@9:06 sounds like the Kenyan. What's next, 'shovel ready'?

Anonymous said...

Tate's bond bill is loaded with "shovel ready" projects 9:38. But we can't blame it on the "Kenyan". The blame is squarely in the hands of our "fiscally conservative" Lite Gov. Make no mistake, the taxpayer is on the hook for Tate's frivolous spending spree.

Anonymous said...

9:38: That's right, inconvenient questions as to the competence of Reeves, Gunn and Bryant can be avoided by diverting the conversation to the lame duck "Kenyan", or better yet Reeves', Gunn's and Bryant's guns, gays and purity agenda. As long as the conversation is limited to guns, gays and purity, the people don't have to think about competency issues like budget short falls and declining revenues.

We're broke and getting more broke by the day but by God our leaders are so pure!

Anonymous said...

People keep electing life long politicians and expect something different every time. Like every other time they are disappointed. They immediately fall back on the excuse that works every time. It was the fault of the other party. Like every other time the people fall for it. They immediately elect the other party.
Guess what? It happens again.
Now it is time to start again.
When will the people learn?

Click On All The Cactus Photos said...

I suggest many of us, in our work history, have worked 'menial jobs', before we got wealthy like the keyboard accountants on here. There's no shame in working a second job that might include counting a cash-drawer. That builds character, among other things.

Yes, in this situation, the buck will have to stop with Tater and his cronies. But, the point being made was he didn't make the initial error. He's responsible for it and for doing whatever it takes to dig out of the hole it created. And it can't wait until next January.

So, now the conversation can change to a discussion of the pristine merits of Lynn Fitch in 3...2...1...

Kingfish said...

Where would the error have taken place? Legislative budget office?

Anonymous said...

Boy Wonder (DM)

Anonymous said...

Butler Snow contract employee screwed the numbers up. If Tate was smart, he would ditch that contract employee and depend on his full time staff more. They have a better understanding of the process and the numbers than a fly in contract employee paid by Butler Snow.

Anonymous said...

Tate relies too heavily on his "just for session" staff. If his key, loyal staff had a voice, this wouldn't have happened.

Where's Worm Man When Needed? said...

Billy McCoy could straighten this shit out in a heartbeat. Just let him and Holland and Cecil go into a room for three hours and see what happens.

Check? What Check? said...

For as long as I can remember (at least twenty years), every year in April and May we are told that State Revenue Refund Checks will be really, really delayed this year. Goes back to Beulow, at least, who should have stayed camped out at the Beechwood Bar in VBurg instead of pretending to oversee an organization.

Anonymous said...

These comments on here about the contract staffer is clearly by one jealous person. RS is a smart, honest, capable adcisor to Tate. The jealous #2 is bitter.

Anonymous said...

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said it best last week on the JT Show - you have unexperienced young folks running the show - they have never run a business, they have never met a payroll, they think they know more than agency heads, they think they know more about state government. "You've got trouble if they are trying to run the government". He went on to say "That's what wrong in Washington and it looks like it's about to happen in Mississippi."

The rural fire truck program is in trouble and if it is not funded, your homeowners insurance could double in the next year or two. Mike Chaney makes a lot of sense about what has happened and what could happen in the future! Mississippi needs to get it's house in order before we go up in flames!

You can listen to his interview with JT on the Supertalk MS network. Just click on demand and then the JT icon. Go down to May 3, 2016 and listen.

Anonymous said...

The president of Brazil is being impeached for similar fuzzy number games. Looks like zika is not the only thing we may be importing from Brazil.

Anonymous said...

Don't trot out Chaney. He's an in-the-tank RINO only interested in feathering the bed$$$ of other RINOs with taxpayer dollars.

Anonymous said...

Mike Chaney is the only state-wide elected official that takes care of his employees. Just ask any one of them!

Anonymous said...

Mike Chaney for Lt. Governor - you will know where you stand with him. He shoots straight and doesn't give a damn. Tell me what other state-wide will do the same!

Anonymous said...

Chaney was sure shooting straight with his backdoor embrace of Obamacare.



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