Otter calls press conference on state budget shortfall
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has called a press conference for tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. "for an important announcement on his plan for dealing with an impending revenue shortfall." The governor's been reviewing proposals from state agencies and meeting with legislative leaders for the past two weeks to decide how to respond to a $151 million shortfall in the current budget year; he could order holdbacks, or mid-year cuts, in the already much-trimmed state budget, or he could strike a deal with lawmakers to dip into Idaho's $274 million in reserves, or there could be a combination of the two. If Otter opts to cover the entire shortfall through new budget cuts, he'd have to order holdbacks of 6 percent.