Missouri governor says budget vetoes on the horizon. ‘No question about it.’ (2024)

JEFFERSON CITY — Although state coffers are flush with a surplus hovering around $5 billion, Gov. Mike Parson said Wednesday he plans to slash some spending in the budget sent to him by lawmakers in May.

Speaking to reporters following an event in the Capitol, the governor acknowledged that the spending plan includes an estimated 450 items over and above what he recommended in January.

Some of those earmarks, including pet projects inserted by lawmakers during the legislative session, are on the chopping block, he said.

“They are not all going to make it across the finish line,” the governor said. “There’s going to be some vetoes, no question about it.”

Parson, who is in his final year as chief executive, is reviewing a $51.7 billion spending proposal and will take final action before the new fiscal year begins July 1.

The plan, however, is about $1 billion less than what he recommended in January, which he said will require lawmakers to approve additional spending before the end of the next fiscal year in June 2024.

In addition, a massive new education law already signed by the governor is expected to drive up spending at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, resulting in the need for a mid-year budget adjustment, state school board officials say.

“The reality of it is we could have close to a billion-dollar supplemental (budget) before March of next year to be able to handle the budget,” Parson said.

One option is to call on the Legislature to add money during the September veto session when Parson is still in office. Another path, which Parson earlier said he opposes, could be to wait until after a new chief executive is sworn into office in January.

Election year posturing derailed the standard legislative budgeting process this year, including delays moving the plan through the House and a 41-hour filibuster in the Senate staged by members of a hard-right splinter faction of Republicans.

That left much of the final product being drafted in a secretive process by House and Senate budget writers.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican who is running for state treasurer, said the spending plan he pushed for will leave the state in a good position in the coming years.

“Crafting a budget that is fiscal sustainable was our primary goal,” Smith said in a statement. “This year’s budget balances our ongoing expenditures with the revenue estimates, while saving one-time money for future known expenses.”

The plan includes a fully funded formula for the distribution of state aid to public school districts and a 3% boost for universities.

The minimum rate of teacher pay also will rise from $25,000 to $40,000.

The budget for the Missouri Department of Transportation includes $861 million to upgrade parts of Interstate 44 to three lanes and $60 million to transform U.S. Route 67 to interstate standards from Poplar Bluff to the Arkansas state line.

The proposal calls for $100 million in spending to improve low-volume, rural roads.

But some agencies were targeted for spending reductions.

Department of Social Services programs that help low-income Missourians with health care and food costs were reduced by more than $500 million from what the Senate had initially sought.

At the Department of Mental Health, lawmakers reduced by $27 million a plan to boost the pay for workers who care for the state’s developmentally disabled residents.

But aside from funding state agencies that provide the foundation for government services, lawmakers added a slew of one-time spending for projects in their districts.

The University of Missouri-St. Louis, for example, was granted a $25 million appropriation to launch an engineering program.

There also is $500,000 designed to help pay for the recruitment and retention of police officers in St. Louis and $2 million to help the city of Eminence replace a fire station that was damaged in a fire.

Great Rivers Greenway, which builds pedestrian and bicycling trails in the St. Louis region, is in line for $10 million.

The plan also includes an $11 million earmark for a redevelopment project in Cape Girardeau.

Parson signaled he’s proud of the budget surplus as he prepares to end six years at the helm of state government.

“We’re just fortunate to be in the position we are,” Parson said.

The legislation is House Bill 2002-2020.