Six weeks into the 2007 Legislative Session, work continues on the creation of a state budget for the next two years.
Committees in the House and Senate are taking testimony from state agencies, local officials and regular citizens to determine the various needs in budget areas like education, transportation, health care, etc.
At the end of the month, the state's Finance Department will issue the February Budget Forecast, which will project how much revenue the state can expect to receive through various taxes, and an estimate of spending based on the 2005-2006 budget.
We use the projected revenue in that forecast as the basis for the 2007-2008 state budget.
State revenues dipped $88 million below the forecast amount — a drop of 5.5 percent — according to the state's monthly collections for January.