BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) announced today that it will scale back planned expenditures for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009-10.

      DOTD will proportionally reduce funding for all special legislative projects funded by the state general fund. These reductions – which total $132,296 – are part of the mid-year, across-the-board 7.56 percent fund reductions made to all agencies.
In addition, the Dec. 17 budget forecast by the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) projected a $23.9 million shortfall in Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) revenue for Fiscal Year 2009-2010.

      By law, DOTD’s budget reductions must be proportionally distributed amongst its TTF-funded programs. DOTD will reduce its operating budget by $15.9 million, its capital budget programs by $6 million, and the parish transportation fund by $2 million.

      Changes in DOTD’s operating budget will include savings attributed to the hiring freeze enacted by Governor Jindal, as well as reductions to supply and equipment purchases, travel expenses, professional and contractual services, and interagency transfers.
“With our current fiscal challenges, we have re-evaluated our budget to ensure that, despite the budget reductions we are facing, we will retain essential departmental functions and safety,” said DOTD Secretary William D. Ankner, Ph.D. “We will continue to seek out ways to be more efficient and maintain essential services for our customers.” 

      Following the recent budget forecast by the Revenue Estimating Conference, Governor Jindal reinforced the need to make the size of government more sustainable in the long term by identifying recurring savings that will also help address future budget challenges in FY 2010-11 and FY 2011-12.

-30-