The slumping economy will result in state tax collections falling $650 million below projections in the current two-year state budget – 60% more than the shortfall estimated last month, a report warned Wednesday.
Aides to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle took austerity measures to bring that potential budget deficit down to about $416 million, an amount Doyle and the Legislature will try to make up this year. Those emergency steps included a delay in paying off $125.4 million in debt.