Much of the discussion currently at the State Legislature involves formulating the fiscal year 2020 budget, and the assembly recently got a more clear picture of what they’re working with through the latest Revenue Estimating Conference.

State Representative Chris Hagenow, (R) District 19, says the recent estimate was the final figure for the current session, so it will determine what the Legislature’s capacity for spending will be in the next year. Hagenow adds, for the current fiscal year the actual revenue was around $5 million more than expected, so the legislature won’t have to make any adjustments on the current budget. For next fiscal year, the revenue estimate has dipped around $20 million. However, Hagenow says because of the limits they’ve set on spending, they won’t have to change anything from what they’ve planned.

“One thing that we’re very proud about this year: we’re not going to spend every dollar available to us. We’ve seen that in past years, and then, you know, if revenues decline we have to make budget adjustments, and that’s never an easy thing to do for anyone. So we set out a more conservative face for our budget this last year, so that we make sure that we wouldn’t have to make any of those adjustments later. And if we’re going to make a promise, we’re going to keep that promise.”

To learn more about the current general assembly, listen to our weekly legislative update on the Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program each Monday.