The Idaho Legisluture's budget

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, in her column of last week referred to Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s State of the State address and his recommendations on how the state should spend its money, emphasizing the governor’s plans to replenish some of the education funding we have had to cut over the past several years because of the economy.

I, too, support the governor’s education funding priority but in this letter would like to provide information on other funding recommendations provided by Gov. Otter.

Most notable, even though the governor is estimating a growth in revenues of about 6.4 percent, he is recommending that we limit the growth of state government by capping General Fund spending at 2.5 percent over this next fiscal year. In addition he is recommending that funds in excess of the 2.5 percent growth be used to replenish the “Rainy Day” accounts (savings accounts) that we reduced almost to nothing over these past years because of the economy.

We have three separate savings accounts: the Budget Stabilization Fund, the Public Education Stabilization Fund and the Higher Education Stabilization Fund. The total amount transferred to these funds would be just more than $74 million if the Legislature adopts the governor’s recommendation.

I agree with the need to replenish our savings as much as appropriate, but the final amount will be determined as the Legislature considers the needs of the agencies providing services to Idaho citizens and agree on the dollars needed to meet those needs.

In addition to the savings transfers, the governor recommended a transfer of $3 million to the Business and Jobs Development fund and a transfer of $15 million to the permanent building fund. The increased funding to the Business and Jobs development fund will assist in insuring the continuing success of our Idaho businesses and their employees.

The transfer of funds to the Permanent Building Fund will enable the state to catch up on needed facility maintenance that has been delayed these past few years.

Other spending recommendations include:

1. A total of $15 million to the Water Resource Board to fund additional projects to help ensure that our water resource needs are met.

2. A total of $2 million to a new Wolf Control Fund to help in managing the wolf population.

3. A transfer of one million dollars to the State’s Constitutional Defense Fund.

The governor also set aside $30 million for tax relief in some form, but only if his education priorities are met first.

These are the governor’s spending recommendations, however it is the Legislature that sets the budget and although the governor’s recommendations were reasonable in terms of our revenue growth and the state of our economy, the Legislature may make significant changes to his recommendations. As an example there was no recommendation for increasing employee raises in the governor’s recommendations.

This will be a controversial issue given that there is a noticeable transfer of state employees to private industry for higher pay in similar jobs. The Legislature’s Joint Committee on State Employee Compensation has already met and has recommended a raise in employee wages and their recommendation will be significant as the legislature addresses this issue.

There will also be differences of opinion on other dollars appropriated for state agencies as they present their needs to the Legislature.

In any event the Legislature and the governor will ultimately come together on state government spending for the upcoming fiscal year and we will have a balanced budget before we adjourn the legislature this session.

It is an honor to be a member of your District 1 legislative team and we encourage you to provide us your thoughts as we continue through this legislative session.

George Eskridge is the Idaho state representative for Dist. 1B.