Budget surplus under stress
The State Government's vaunted Budget surplus is under threat with questions over how agencies will meet efficiency cuts and key departments are set to ask Treasury for more money to cover "structural deficits".
With the predicted 2012-13 surplus already down from $196 million to $140 million in Troy Buswell's midyear review, it has emerged the departments of Planning, Transport, Fisheries and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions are projecting deficits and will need top-up funding.
The projections are on top of $55 million extra for schools, $85 million more for hospitals, $23 million for training places and $10.5 million for prisons in the review.
These are largely to fund unexpected growth in demand from WA's booming population.
Mr Buswell, the Treasurer and Transport Minister, yesterday played down the deficits, which Treasury identified in the midyear review as "spending risks".
He said they were minor compared with the funding injections and insisted frontline services would not be cut.
... Read more via thewest.com.au
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