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California has more money than projected after admin miscalculated state budget

California has more money than projected after admin miscalculated state budget

littlexsparkee

Comments (88)

  • codethief
    Related: In the German state of Baden-Württemberg they were miscalculating the number of active teachers for 20 years due to a software error, causing the state to employ 1440 fewer teachers than actually intended.https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/bildung/baden-wuerttemberg-s...
  • sgc
    Given that school budgets are absolutely gutted with mass layoffs this year and next, and the miscalculation looks like 2/3 of the budget shortfall, hiding such a basic and impactful error requires a much better explanation than I see in that article. It looks like it was done to stifle debate about budget allocations, which would be necessary in the circumstances.
  • nxobject
    If you want a vivid illustration (from an adjacent state) about the impact of pessimistic fiscal projections: Oregon has an infamous "kicker" law that refunds income taxes collected in excess of projections (plus a 2% margin). The state faces the same budgetary challenges as California... but can't project too pessimistically lest it leave money off the table.
  • hedgehog
    The article doesn't really explain the overall budget, for scale it looks like in the 2025-2026 budget year CA planned to spend about $228B compared to $216B revenue ($227B in the previous year).https://ebudget.ca.gov/2025-26/pdf/Enacted/BudgetSummary/Sum...
  • pclowes
    This is wild. A mistake of this magnitude should result in several positions becoming vacant and many politicians being ineligible for any future offices.If a government can’t budget accurately everything else they do is likely even less competent. Every number and statistic they report should be treated with suspicion. Without clear data who is to say they are doing anything helpful at all?
  • jjtheblunt
    "Gov. Newsom in January projected the state would have to grapple with a $2.9 billion shortfall. The confirmed miscalculation means that shortfall could be much smaller."So, the title is just plain misleading.California is less in deficit than they earlier calculated.
  • legitster
    Correction: This is a correction to the forecast - not the budget.By the state's own admission, there could be as much as an $18 billion dollar budget deficit if the state economy fails to grow as projected. It could also be a smaller shortfall if the economy is even better than expected.Miscalculations are pretty common and this is why they are revised several times a year.
  • IvyMike
  • apparent
    > "This isn’t a calculation error – it’s revision to better estimate how these payments are made," said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Newsom's Department of Finance.Nice excuse. Reminds me of "it depends what the meaning of 'is' is".
  • tyre
    A little “bank error in your favor” sitchu. We love to see it.
  • seiferteric
    Didn't something like this just happen last year (or year before) but in the opposite direction?
  • cdrnsf
    Oops! They're still far easier to deal with than any federal agency.
  • dogscatstrees
    They should have used Claude Code for Excel.
  • tonymet
    it’s less than 1% of the budget, and the state keeps overspending. Don’t get too optimistic
  • noobahoi
    [flagged]
  • whalesalad
    2 billion surplus? that's good for about 150 linear feet of high speed rail track in the middle of Salinas.
  • boznz
    Another indicator that the administration hasn't got a fucking clue what or where their (your) money goes.
  • SilentM68
    My Opinion:Anyone who thinks this is a glitch in the system, or an honest mistake, should shift their mindset and start thinking more like a detective and less like a politician.California has been steadily declining for years, now. Waste, mismanagement, fraud are commonplace. This needs to be investigated by impartial third parties that can't be bought and paid for whose commitment must be verified via polygraph. Those that are found guilty need to be prosecuted and jailed.Being that this is California, what will end up happening is that the politicians will end up investigating themselves and miraculously be found not liable.******Unbiased-AI Deep Dive:https://archive.ph/jdyO4
  • testfoobar
    Give it back?
  • mlmonkey
    > California's legislative leaders have known for months but did not make the issue public.Why would they give up a chance to make more money from the people? The government never misses an opportunity to pad its coffers. Reminds me of the CA State Parks department, which squirreled away millions of dollars and then was crying about lack of funding and hence wanted to shut down some parks.