Governor Kim Reynolds plans to use money from the state’s “Economic Emergency Fund” to ensure the state budget is balanced when the books are officially closed on the current state fiscal year.  “The bottom line is this…there will be continuity of government and Iowans will experience no change from when the sun sets on June 30th to the morning of July 1st,” Reynolds says.

Iowa governors have the authority to withdraw up to 50-million dollars from the Economic Emergency Fund to cover red ink. Reynolds says if the shortfall is greater than 50-million dollars, she’ll call legislators back to Des Moines for a “special session” to take steps to ensure the budget is balanced by September 30th. State officials have until then to count any payments to the state that were due BEFORE June 30th, but made late.

As for the spending side of the ledger, June 30th is the final day of the 2017 state budgeting year. “It’s absolutely not realistic for us to do additional cuts,” Reynolds says. And the governor says “right now” she has NO plans to ask state workers to take unpaid days off in the final 17 days of the fiscal year. State tax receipts were running about 100-million dollars SHORT of expectations through May 31st.

Reynolds says she’s been getting questions about the state’s financial predicament as she travels around Iowa. “Folks are rightly concerned about the state budget and what it means to them,” Reynolds says. Reynolds says the state will pay all its bills on time and that includes payments to public schools and health care institutions that provide care to Medicaid patients.

(Radio Iowa)