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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Median of legislators’ projections well below gov’s on state revenues

Members of the Legislature's Joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee hear from the governor's chief economist, Mike Ferguson, on Wednesday and prepare to choose a revenue estimate on which to base the state budget for next year. Lawmakers are more pessimistic than Otter about future state tax revenues. (Betsy Russell)
Members of the Legislature's Joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee hear from the governor's chief economist, Mike Ferguson, on Wednesday and prepare to choose a revenue estimate on which to base the state budget for next year. Lawmakers are more pessimistic than Otter about future state tax revenues. (Betsy Russell)

The Joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee has begun its meeting in the basement auditorium of the state Capitol, and is now hearing from the state's chief economist, Mike Ferguson. The committee's draft report - members will vote on their final recommendation today - shows that the median projection from committee members puts state revenues for the current fiscal year at $2.3319 billion, $17.3 million below Gov. Butch Otter's estimate; for fiscal year 2011, $2.3886 billion, $44.4 million below the governor's number; and for fiscal year 2012, $2.4646 billion, $181.8 million below Otter's estimate.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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