Tennessee is experiencing an historic revenue shortfall. Revenue collections are down for the fourth Straight month. Overall November collections were 106-point-three-million-dollars below budgeted estimates. In spite of Black Friday, sales tax collections were 53-point-six-million-dollars less than expected. Year-to-date state tax collections are more than 324-million-dollars below the estimates adopted last spring by the State Funding Board. Economists predict a budget shortfall of around a billion dollars. Goetz says state officials will continue to keep the state’s budget in balance through the national recession. To that end, Governor Phil Bredesen has said departmental budget cuts in the ten-to-15-percent range will be necessary.
