Governor Reeves’ Executive Budget Recommendation FY 22: Assessing State Priorities and Community Needs in Economic Uncertainty

by Kyra Roby

Each year, Mississippi’s Governor puts forth a budget recommendation for the upcoming fiscal year. The state budget provides a blueprint for how our state government plans to fund all of the needs and wants of its 2.9 million residents.  It signifies the state’s policy priorities for the upcoming year, and it informs the state’s residents of how the government plans to improve their quality of life-based on the government’s spending decisions.  The budget recommended by Governor Reeves fails to address the realities of budgeting during an economic recession, particularly the impact of economic stress and uncertainty on children, communities of color, working families, and low-income individuals throughout the state.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Mississippi, like every other state in the nation, faces tough budget decisions. The state’s poverty rate of 19.6% is the highest in the nation, and currently, Mississippi’s unemployment rate is 6.8%. Not to mention, the state’s health, education, and criminal justice systems have faced near-unprecedented challenges recently.

Generally, the executive budget recommendation serves as an endorsement of the governor’s policy priorities for the upcoming year. The state legislature will ultimately determine the state’s spending.

The Executive Budget Recommendation for Fiscal Year 2022 provides a total projection of $6,219,255,803 in total state support funds for appropriation. This projected recommendation represents a $1,079,612,334 decrease in total state support funds for appropriation from FY 2021 to FY 2022. Reeves’ recommendation includes decreased funding in every agency category, with the exception of the budget for the state’s judiciary and justice agencies. The chart below provides a comparison of executive budget recommendations and enacted budgets over the past few years.

The budget priorities highlighted by Reeves for FY 2022 do little in striving to improve the lives of Mississippi residents across the state regardless of color or class related to access to healthcare, real improvements to the state’s education system, and criminal justice reform.   Over the next few weeks, I will provide an analysis of the Governor’s budget recommendation.

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