Daniella Tebib
News Editor
During a media briefing on Nov. 4, Gov. Andy Beshear said the commonwealth is on track to balance the fiscal year 2021 budget without any cuts.
“Today’s news means that critical areas, such as education, health care and public safety will not suffer from midyear cuts but will instead be fully supported at their budgeted amounts,” Beshear said.
This announcement came after President Bob Jackson sent an email on Sept. 9 warning faculty of a possible eight percent budget cut, which would have resulted in a $3.5 million cut from the current fiscal year 2020-21.
While Jackson said he was pleased to hear the University will not experience a funding cut through June 30, 2021, he said the University is still facing fiscal challenges.
“We still have many fiscal challenges due to the pandemic,” Jackson said. “We have experienced a few million dollars in additional expenses and reductions or eliminations in revenue since July 1. We remain hopeful that a federal stimulus package will be passed to assist Murray State and other colleges and universities in the coming days.”
Beshear said the commonwealth was able to refrain from budget cuts because they had better revenues than anticipated.
“We believe in large part that’s because of dollars flowing through our economy because of the state and federal COVID relief efforts,” Beshear said.
Beshear also said in addition to balancing the budget, Kentucky is also likely to finish this fiscal year with over $460 million in the state’s Budget Reserve Trust Fund—the rainy day fund—which would be the highest total ever.
The News will continue to provide updates regarding the budget as more information is presented.
