Gov. Bobby Jindal is leading by example.
On Friday he released his plan to close a current-year $103.5 million budget gap by cutting back one vacation official visit to either Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina this spring by reducing his office’s travel budget by $10,000. That’s an admirable .097 percent of the overall gap — proof that Louisiana is reading the governor’s lips.
The state Department of Transportation and Development will chip in with $16.6 million in cuts. Other departments within Louisiana state government will also do their part, like the governor’s office is so bravely doing, to offset the mid-year deficit. Among them are the Departments of Health and Hospitals ($13 million), Revenue ($2.2 million), Agriculture ($2 million), Environmental Quality ($2.5 million) and the Commission on Law Enforcement ($3.2 million).
Still ahead is a projected $1.6 billion budget shortfall for fiscal year 2015-16. Sources tell The IND Jindal will totally eliminate the Executive Belt Buckle Budget as an example of self-imposed austerity and to help offset up to $800 million in cuts to higher education and health care.
We, like all of Louisiana, applaud Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Read the governor’s mid-year deficit-reduction plan here.