Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has a tough assignment Monday.  The Democrat has to deliver what’s expected to be a grim budget proposal for the next two years.  Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman has this preview.

Cuts are all but certain.  That’s because revenues aren’t expected to keep pace with the increasing cost of providing state services, such as public schools, social services and corrections.  

Once the governor delivers his version of the budget, it will be up to lawmakers to hammer out the details.

Democratic State Senator Margaret Carter of Portland will play a key role in those negotiations.  She’s the new co-chair of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee:Carter:  “You try to prioritize in a way that you want to serve the most vulnerable of our population.  And that is, when you look at the numbers of people who have fallen off the employment rolls, they’re going to be needing some means to put food on the table.”

Lawmakers probably won’t actually pass a budget until June, when they’ll have a better sense of how much tax revenue will be available to spend over the next two years.

In the meantime, they face a more immediate problem.  They’ll have to find ways to make up a projected $142 million shortfall in the current budget