States end troubling fiscal year with balanced budgets.

• Position: Brief Article

The states that have balanced their budgets amid this fiscal crisis--the worst in decades--have done so largely without relying heavily on broad tax hikes, according to NCSL's mid-July fiscal report, "State Budget and Tax Actions 2003." Forty-three of the 49 states required to balance their budgets have completed the process. They turned first to their reserves, then to specific fee increases and cost-cutting measures, the report shows.

"After three daunting years of financial crisis, state legislators should be lauded for resolving some of the most formidable budget problems seen in decades," said NCSL President Angela Monson, an Oklahoma senator. "State lawmakers have done what they had to do. They made the wrenching decisions necessary, and they balanced their budgets."

Since...