SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington Governor Bob Ferguson is proposing $4 billion in budget cuts to help address the state’s $15 billion shortfall.
We could feel a local impact from these cuts and reductions if the state legislature approves them.
K-12 education and public safety are the only areas Gov. Ferguson did not want to cut in this proposal. He said he is against raising taxes to cover the $15 billion shortfall.
His cabinet came up with $1 billion in additional reductions that the governor is not currently recommending to the legislature.
Ferguson is targeting programs that received one-time federal funding during the pandemic that the state has been funding since the federal money ran out.
That includes a program from the Department of Agriculture that provides assistance to food banks.
Pre-pandemic, the state was investing $12 million in that program but now it’s costing the state over $120 million.
“I propose we limit the general fund investment to $82 million for the next biennium, which is still six times greater than our general fund investment from just six years ago,” Gov. Ferguson said.
2nd Harvest, an organization running food banks across the region, says only around 5% of its budget comes from government funding.
Ferguson is also proposing big reductions for the Department of Children, Youth and Families, including a Spokane County program that limits out-of-time placement for kids in child welfare.
The nearly $4 billion these restrictions would save also include cuts to local universities like Washington State and Eastern Washington.
Ferguson said he has another billion-worth of cuts planned that he is not yet recommending to the legislature.
“There are plenty of items where the team made suggestions. I’m interested i those, but we need more time to spend looking at those. I need more information, I need more data,” he said.
Many local organizations do not yet know how these cuts would affect them since they are all yet to be approved by the legislature.
There are still two more months left in the legislative session.
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