Kentucky Budget Director to Retire

From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeighKentucky Gov. Steve Beshear will have to find a new Budget Director. The current director, Mary Lassiter, is retiring.Three days after Steve Beshear was elected governor last year, he announced that Mary Lassiter of Midway would be his Budget Director."You all know how important this position is," said Beshear. "As the budget goes, so goes state government."Forty-six year old Lassiter, who has worked for state government for 25-years, is retiring at the end of the month. She’s leaving at a time when state revenues are down, due to the slumping national economy, but she told the Louisville Courier-Journal the Budget Office has "tremendous experience and expertise in dealing with fiscal challenges."State revenue collections fell almost five percent last month, and the growth rate for the first quarter of the fiscal year was just under one percent. The current state budget is based on a growth rate of two-point-six percent.A spokesman says Gov. Beshear has not yet decided who will replace Lassiter.