Joint Legislative Budget Committee Adopts FY 2022 Budget Recommendation

by Kyra Roby

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee (“JLBC”) adopted its FY 2022 Budget Recommendation on December 7, 2020.

The joint committee, which includes the President Pro Tempore of the Mississippi State Senate, the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Mississippi, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and other members of the state legislature, heard agency budget requests and State revenue estimates in September. Soon thereafter, it met to consider the Legislative Budget Recommendation (LBR) and adopt State revenue projections.

The adoption of the LBR is one of the final steps of the FY 2022 budget process before the legislature meets and appropriations bills are passed next year.

Overall, the JLBC’s FY 2022 Budget Recommendation provides the following:

• A balanced budget.
• An estimated General Fund revenue increase of $53.6 million, or an estimated 1.1% increase, above the FY 2021 revenue estimate.
• A proposed FY 2022 General Fund Budget Recommendation that totals $18.2 million, or 0.3%, more than the legislature appropriated in FY 2021.
• A State Support Budget Recommendation that is $197.4 million, or 3.1%, less than the legislature appropriated in FY 2021.
• An increase in General Funds for the Department of Education’s Chickasaw Interest budget and for the Department of Public Safety’s fund for officer salary increases. The increases in funding for these programs were based on a funding formula set by a federal court to the Chickasaw Cessions counties and by state statute, respectively.
• Many of the State Support Budget Recommendations, including the budget for the MS Adequate Education Program, remained the same as FY 2021 State Support levels. State Support Budgets for Medicaid, Corrections, IHL-General Support, Community College-Support, Mental Health, General Education and Child Protective Services decreased. The JLBC also recommended State Support reductions, including the deletion of 4,119 vacant government positions and funding for most of those positions.
• An overall $56.1 million in General Fund reductions through the application of committee guidelines and an additional $7.6 million elimination of General Funds for non-recurring spending.
• A total of $887.5 million in unallocated funds.

Figure 1. below compares FY 2021 Total State Support Funds, Governor Reeves’ FY 2022 Executive Budget Recommendation’s (“EBR”) State Support Totals, and the JLBC’s FY 2022 Budget Recommendation’s State Support Totals. All of these totals exclude funds from COVID-19 relief.

Figure 2. compares FY 2020 General Fund Agencies Budget Totals, FY 2021 Estimated General Fund Agencies Budget Totals, FY 2022 General Fund Agencies Budget Requests, and the JLBC’s FY 2022 General Fund Agencies Budget Recommendations.

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