North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple says he’s happy with the way his agency heads have responded to the budget allotments.
Faced with lower than anticipated tax revenues, Dalrymple ordered general fund agencies to slice 4.05 percent from their budgets.
"On the whole, I think that, from an administrative standpoint, our agency directors have done an outstanding job delving deep into their budgets, finding the adjustments that have the least impact on people and on services," said Dalrymple. "This is not something they want to do, or that they feel good about. It's something they're required to do by law."
After that budget cut was ordered, Dalrymple was able to use the budget stabilization fund to make up for some of the lost revenue.
A new revenue forecast will be done this summer.
"I am hopeful it will be a bit brighter than the one we just got," Dalrymple said. "I don't know if it will be. But I would like to think that $27 oil may be close to the bottom, and things will improve from here."
Dalrymple says if the budget outlook improves, some of the allotments could be restored to agency budgets.
"I believe that authority would be there," said Dalrymple. "Although, as you get close to a Legislative session, we'll have to discuss whether we do that, or whether it would be a good idea to just have a little bit of an ending fund balance. I'm not saying what we would do."