Iowa lawmakers are faced with another budget shortfall to round out the current fiscal year.

Last week, the Revenue Estimating Conference reported that the state lost another $131 million from their previous projections in January. District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says they already made cuts to various state departments to reduce the overall budget by $117 million in January. So now, legislators are faced with having to use their reserve funds to cover the additional shortfall.

“What we’re suppose to do is refill those cash reserves basically immediately. And so when the new (fiscal) year starts, we’re going to have to develop a plan to repay those. It’s a little bit like using your savings account to pay your electric bill. You better have a plan on how to get that savings account taking care of because you can’t use one time money for ongoing expenses.”

However, Behn says the state’s economy is increasing, but just not at the rate that the REC projected.

The senator from Boone hopes that they will be more conservative as they continue to work on finalizing the state’s budget before the end of the legislative session.