After a string of surpluses, the Minnesota state budget has a projected 188-million-dollar deficit for the current two-year cycle, and over a half-billion-dollar shortfall is forecast in 2020 and ’21.  Hamline University analyst David Schultz says there are two more factors that could make it even more difficult

 

Governor Mark Dayton calls the current budget forecast “speculative at best” because of uncertainty in Washington D-C.  He indicates any decisions will have to be based on the next forecast in late February or early March, when the legislature is back in session.