BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s got an $865 million budget surplus in its coffers, money left over from the last budget year.
The figure was outlined Friday to lawmakers. But before they got a chance to celebrate the news, they were warned of looming budget problems, tied to the national economic downturn and other factors.
State budget analysts say the years of surpluses are coming to an end, and the state faces a shortfall topping a billion dollars if it wanted to continue operating every program it has today.
 
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