North Dakota’s Budget Director says the planned start of the budget forecasting process for the next biennium has been delayed – because of uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
That process was to begin this week, with a meeting of a revenue advisory committee. That committee was to hear from Moody's Analytics, the state's budget consultant.
"We suspended that, because we felt it was impossible at this point to have a grasp on what's changing day to day, much less looking forward," OMB director Joe Morrissette told the Legislature's Budget Section. "We definitely will pick that up at some point. But at this time, it is really not possible to have a productive discussion about the future. We need to let things settle out a little bit."
The forecast will help Governor Burgum prepare his executive budget, to be presented to the Legislature’s organizational session in December.
