The turmoil in the economy is splashing red ink across the state’s books, doubling an earlier projection of the two-year budget shortfall to $652.3 million, the Legislature’s budget office reported Wednesday.
Gov. Jim Doyle responded by calling for more cuts to the state bureaucracy, more use of the state credit card and, possibly, dipping more into pots of one-time money. But most of the shortfall remained uncovered, and one independent budget expert said plans already announced rely on some of the same tactics that left the state’s finances vulnerable to deficits in the first place.