Purpera Suggests Optimism in Capital Outlay Decisions

In follow-up to to his March 18 statement, LaMATS's Capital Outlay Consultant James Purpera suggests keeping a sunny outlook on the Capital Outlay Budget for fiscal year 20-21. Purpera offers LMA members the following observations:

"After the decision makers get all the info from the State Economists and the State Bond Commission, I am thinking that decisions about Capital Outlay for FY 20-21 will depend on whether the decision makers are optimistic or pessimistic about how fast the economy will recover.

"I have attached some excerpts from a presentation that was made to the Legislature on 2/7/20, and a presentation that was prepared by the House Fiscal Division. If you have the opportunity to help your Legislators decide on whether to base their Capital Outlay Budget decisions on optimism or pessimism, please note the facts and trends in the attached documents that might help you argue that we should be optimistic and lean toward trying to continue the Capital Outlay Budget at least at the same level of funding that we have had in recent years.

"The State had ended recent years with a revenue surplus and we have the Budget Stabilization Fund (Rainy Day Fund) to help out in years when State Revenue is down. If you think any of your Legislators might be leaning towards a pessimistic reaction to our situation, then maybe you can help them to be optimistic by reminding them of some of the information in this slide presentation, this document and t his document."