Louisiana revenue forecasts drop again; budget gap at $850M

(AP) — Louisiana's budget gap grew worse Wednesday, reaching a projection of about $850 million and placing government services at risk of deep cuts, with only four months remaining to rebalance the state's spending plan.

"Louisiana faces an unprecedented budget challenge that, if left unresolved, will devastate state government as we know it and impose unimaginable cuts to higher education, health care and other vital services the state delivers to our citizens," Edwards said in a statement.

[...] former Gov. Bobby Jindal and lawmakers didn't fully pay for all the programs they included in the budget, including Medicaid, the TOPS free college tuition program and the public school financing formula.

To close the hole, Edwards is proposing to tap into the state's "rainy day" fund, redirect Gulf oil spill recovery money earmarked for a legal settlement and reduce some spending.

In addition to revising this year's forecast, the Revenue Estimating Conference also dropped tax collection estimates by $744 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, boosting that projected shortfall to more than $2 billion.