Budget Shortfall Smaller in Utah

This morning the Deseret News was reporting that Utah’s budget shortfall was smaller than in many states. Indeed, the governor’s spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, said:

It’s important to understand that Utah, though in a difficult economic situation, certainly is in a better place than many other states throughout the country.

And the governor himself had this to say:

The environment is a tough one. Forty-five of 50 states are facing serious budget shortfalls.

For the 2009 fiscal year there are twelve states that have no budget shortfall. They are Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. However, some of these states face a projected 2010 budget shortfall. I only list thirty-eight states with deficits so perhaps Governor Huntsman is also including projections for 2010 in his quote above. Also the reference to Arizona’s almost “25 percent budget gap” appears to be for 2010.

Some numbers might help to show Utah’s budget situation relative to other states. In the table below the budget shortfalls are expressed in millions of dollars, along with the relative positions (“$ Posn” and “% Posn”) of the states to each other. For example, Utah with a budget shortfall of $354 million, which is 6.4% of the budget, is in 20th worse position in terms of dollars and 13th worse position in terms of percentage.

Click on the column headers to sort.

State	$ Millions	$ Posn	%	% Posn
TOTALS	31,354		5
Alabama	458	14	6	15
Arizona	1,235	7	12.3	2
California	8,400	1	8	8
Colorado	100	32	1.3	30
Connecticut	392	19	2.3	26
Delaware	129	31	3.6	23
Florida	2,142	3	8.6	6
Georgia	2,100	4	8.4	7
Hawaii	220	26	3.8	22
Idaho	27	36	1	34
Illinois	2,300	2	7.6	10
Iowa	35	35	0.5	37
Kansas	137	30	2.1	27
Kentucky	456	15	5.1	17
Maine	140	28	4.5	19
Maryland	138	29	0.9	35
Massachusetts	1,200	8	4.3	20
Minnesota	426	16	1.2	31
Mississippi	86	34	1.7	29
Nebraska	5	38	0.2	38
Nevada	337	22	10.5	3
New Hampshire	250	25	15.3	1
New Jersey	400	18	1.2	32
New Mexico	253	24	4.2	21
New York	1,475	6	2.6	25
North Carolina	1,200	9	5	18
Ohio	1,181	10	6.1	14
Oregon	142	27	1	33
Pennsylvania	2,000	5	7.1	11
Rhode Island	350	21	10.4	4
South Carolina	724	13	10	5
South Dakota	7	37	0.6	36
Tennessee	800	12	7	12
Utah	354	20	6.4	13
Vermont	88	33	8	9
Virginia	974	11	5.7	16
Washington	413	17	2.7	24
Wisconsin	281	23	2	28

Source: NCSL