State Revenues Below Expectations

None by Elizabeth Ziegler

Still Third-Highest Revenues in State History

(KCPW News) Lawmakers are slightly disappointed with the revised revenue figures released by the Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee yesterday. The numbers are lower than anticipated, but they are still the third-highest in Utah's history. Executive Appropriations co-chairman Representative Ron Bigelow says it's not a "doom and gloom" situation.

"As always the requests far exceed the available revenue," Bigelow says. "And so the difference here will be that some of the items they thought may have been funded down lower on those lists will probably not be now. The list will just be a little bit shorter. But there will still be funds here available to fund many significant needs in the state of Utah.

This session, lawmakers are asking for $2.75 (B)illion dollars in appropriations. However, there's only $613 million available to spend. Because Utah Code requires the Legislature to pass a balanced budget, lawmakers will scramble over the next two-and-a-half weeks to determine who gets a piece of the pie, and who goes home hungry. Minority Leader Representative Brad King says the Democrats will caucus this week to determine how to reprioritize their budget requests.

"Our biggest priority will be to take care of public education and our state employees. And after that we will allocate things according to the priorities of our caucus. In the past, many of those concerns have been in the health and human services areas, and the programs that we feel are important for the people of Utah," King says.

The public education budget is now $149 million less than expected, and the general fund dropped $82 million dollars. Altogether, the state's budget dropped $340 million from the last estimate released in December. Ongoing revenues dipped $230 million and one-time funds are down $110 million. The decreased revenues are the result of the nation's economic slowdown, an error with the state's tax tables, and President George Bush's economic stimulus package, which will cost the state $65 million dollars.

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