Bentley expects to declare proration

Gov. Robert Bentley said Tuesday he expects to declare proration, which are across the board cuts to balance the budget, soon in at least one of the state's two budgets.

"I think the decision will come very early," Bentley said.

The governor said he would like to wait to see if the economy begins to improve.

"The general fund is not in as good of shape as the Education Trust Fund," Bentley said.

Unfortunately, for 2011, "there is not enough money to finish out the year's budget," he said.

"Declaring proration in the Education Trust Fund is a possibility. I would say the general fund is more of a probability," Bentley said.

He did not know what percentage he would declare proration and said he needed to work with his finance director.

At his inaugural ball on Monday, Bentley told the crowd "we don't have a lot of money ... The budgets don't look very good."

He told people when they saw the status of the budgets in a few days that it will be worse than they thought.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen