That's our Governor, for whom the expression "penny-wise and pound-foolish" is a way of life.

Nearly a year ago, Gov. Rick Perry trumpeted $90 million in savings to businesses by temporarily suspending some of the burden of paying unemployment insurance taxes -- money meant to replenish the unemployment compensation trust fund.

The suspended tax was reinstated this month, but officials said it won't be enough to bridge the gap between the $414 million the state expects to be in the fund Oct. 1 and the $861 million it's supposed to have.

By law, the fund must keep an amount equal to 1 percent of all taxable wages in Texas.

Now the Texas Workforce Commission must decide whether to raise the tax, issue bonds to meet the shortfall or see if the state could use an interest-free federal loan, said commission Chairman Tom Pauken, a Perry appointee who took office after the tax was suspended by the commission last year.

Pauken said jobless claims will be paid, and that last year's suspension of the tax didn't cause the problem.

"We will have the money to pay for the claims," Pauken said Wednesday. "Here would be my concern: You don't want to raise taxes substantially on employers at a time when it's really tough to keep the doors open and keep people employed.

"So we want to try to -- if taxes have to go up -- make it as modest as possible to fund the system and look at other alternatives first," he said.

[...]

The replenishment tax is just one part of the unemployment insurance tax. Last March, Perry directed the state to "bring that (replenishment) tax to a screeching halt for this year" when the fund stood at $1.6 billion.

By the end of 2008, the trust fund balance had fallen to $1.3 billion, Pauken said.