Post by Logan on Feb 1, 2016 17:16:50 GMT -6
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple ordered deep cuts to government agencies and a massive raid on the oil-rich state's savings on Monday to make up for a more than $1 billion budget shortfall due to a drop in oil drilling and depressed crude prices.
The state had more than $2 billion in various reserve accounts just one year ago, but oil prices — a key contributor to the state's wealth — have taken a nosedive in the past year.
North Dakota is the nation's second top oil-producing state, behind only Texas, and has the lowest unemployment rate in the country at less than 3 percent. But the Legislature's record-high $14.4 billion budget for the two years that began July 1 was built on oil prices and economic assumptions that have fallen "much greater than anyone would have predicted," the governor said.
"After 15 years of receiving almost entirely good news about the growth in revenues for North Dakota, it seems strange to hear that things have gone in the other direction," Dalrymple, a Republican, told state agency officials at the state Capitol in Bismarck.
Read more: bigstory.ap.org/article/fae0b160c36d43b195737a92720d3912/dalrymple-orders-cuts-make-1b-budget-shortfall
The state had more than $2 billion in various reserve accounts just one year ago, but oil prices — a key contributor to the state's wealth — have taken a nosedive in the past year.
North Dakota is the nation's second top oil-producing state, behind only Texas, and has the lowest unemployment rate in the country at less than 3 percent. But the Legislature's record-high $14.4 billion budget for the two years that began July 1 was built on oil prices and economic assumptions that have fallen "much greater than anyone would have predicted," the governor said.
"After 15 years of receiving almost entirely good news about the growth in revenues for North Dakota, it seems strange to hear that things have gone in the other direction," Dalrymple, a Republican, told state agency officials at the state Capitol in Bismarck.
Read more: bigstory.ap.org/article/fae0b160c36d43b195737a92720d3912/dalrymple-orders-cuts-make-1b-budget-shortfall