Peninsula Daily News and The Associated Press
OLYMPIA — The wounded economy took another bite out of state government’s checkbook on Thursday, pushing the budget deficit to nearly $9 billion through mid-2011.
By comparison, California’s state budget deficit is about $16 billion.
Washington has 6.4 million population; California’s is 36.5 million.
The new figure out of Olympia is the last major piece of financial guidance for state legislators as they prepare to unveil budget-balancing plans in the coming weeks.
But despite the massive pool of red ink and widespread talk of grim budget cuts, the Legislature still had no firm timeline Thursday for finishing secret negotiations and revealing its budgets to the public.
In the meantime, special interest groups have been working on ideas for a separate package of tax increases that voters could decide this fall.
That coalition — which includes hospitals and labor unions — is hoping voters will approve up to $2 billion in higher taxes to offset the deepest of the budget cuts, which will include lower spending for education, human services, parks, state worker benefits and more.
Risk remains
The state’s chief economist, Arun Raha, said there’s still risk the economy will worsen, and no clear picture of when consumer confidence and healthy credit markets will return.
Raha reiterated that the nation’s economy is in its worst state since the Great Depression.
“That is not to say we are headed there — not by a long shot.
But No. 2 isn’t exactly great either,” he deadpanned.
The roughly $9 billion deficit is the difference between how much money is coming into the state, mostly through taxes, and how much it would cost to continue previous spending plans through the 2011 fiscal year.
