#MTGov Daily Rundown: Bullock Continues to Mislead About the State's Economy and Fiscal Position

At a press conference yesterday, State Sen. Fred Thomas and State Rep Jeff Essmann highlighted the state's increasingly problematic fiscal position, noting that state revenue for the 2016 fiscal year came in $141 million under projections.

"State revenues are off $140 million from projections of a year ago, and if those declines continue and state spending is unchanged, a deficit is likely for the two-year budget period that starts a year from now, said state Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville." -MTN News, 8/2/2016

"State Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, said those income losses will take a huge bite out of the state’s oft-touted $350 million rainy day fund -- and, if declines continue, could even devour it whole." -Helena IR, 8/2/2016

Meanwhile, the Governor's Budget Director Dan Villa, who oversaw Bullock's infamous "billion dollar mistake," was also on hand trying to argue that the state was in a good fiscal position.

"Yet Bullock’s state budget director, Dan Villa, said he does not foresee any deficit, and that revenue came in relatively strong in fiscal 2016, despite not meeting projections." -MTN News, 8/2/2016

Thomas and Essmann highlighted the fact that current projections show that the state's ending fund balance could fall as low as $100 million.

"But recent projections from the Legislative Fiscal Division show that natural resource revenues are down. Thomas said the state could end up with $141 million less than anticipated and have an ending fund balance of about $100 million and not the $300 million that’s coveted by state officials.

'This means we overspent,' Thomas said." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/2/2016


Villa then tried to make the patently false claim that Montana's economy is growing, and was promptly fact-checked.

"The fact of the matter is our economy is growing, more people are working in Montana than ever before and our unemployment rate is at historic lows,” he said. 'For folks who stand up here and say the second-best revenue year in the history of the state is not good enough? It must be an election year.'”

Last month, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said Montana’s gross domestic product actually shrunk in the last quarter of 2015 and first quarter of 2016, primary because of falling commodity prices, in agriculture and mining." -MTN News, 8/2/2016


Rep. Essmann also pointed out the fact that state spending is growing far faster than the state's rate of economic growth.

"'You cannot have a state budget grow faster than the underlying economy,' he said, adding the budget was on a steep path that cannot be sustained." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/2/2016


Both Thomas and Essmann emphasized that, with declining revenues, it was time for new leadership in the governor's office.

"'Seems to me over the last 12 years, the environmentalists have occupied the governor’s office and the chickens are coming home to roost,' Thomas said. 'The governor has spent the huge ending fund balance we had, that he started his tenure with.'"

""If we’re going to have a natural resource state, we need new leadership at the helm.'" -Helena IR, 8/2/2016

ICYMI- #MTGov Daily Rundown: Revenues Continue Sharp Decline Under Bullock's Failed Leadership