The October state revenue report was a mixed bag.
"We fell short of the original Legislative forecast by about 25 percent," said state Office of Management and Budget director Joe Morrissette.
However, Morrissette said it falls in line with the newer state revenue forecast, issued in September.
"And that forecast shows we'll be able to make it through this biennium, despite the shortfall, without having to call for an across-the-board state budeg reduction," Morrissette said.
One of the reasons for that is the state was doing well, and collections were well above the forecast. Then the pandemic hit.
"We were on such a positive trend, tracking above forecast by a significant margin," Morrissette said. "We developed a little cushion, that has helped us weather this."
Morrissette has been working on the executive budget request, for the 2021-2023 biennium, that will be given to state lawmakers next week, during the organizational session.
"We do expect there to be significant shortfalls there," Morrissette said. "That will require some pro-active budget management and some reductions."
Gov. Doug Burgum had asked state agencies to submit budget proposals with reductions of 5 to 15 percent, based on agency size.
