Senate Appropriations chair breaks down state budget picture

Budget Break Down By Sen. Roger Thompson, Senate Appropriations Chair We are currently looking at the best budget numbers in the entire history of our state.  Last month, the Board of Equalization certified that the Legislature would have more than $10.4 billion available to appropriate for Fiscal Year 2023, which begins this July 1.  A lot of people are very excited about that figure, including me.   But when we start drilling down into those numbers, what we’ve learned from past budget years and how we prepare for those to come, it’s clear we need to take a thoughtful, conservative approach. The first thing to keep in mind is that we must base our budget on recurring revenue.  Of that $10.4 billion, we have about $1.3 billion made up of one-time carryover funds and special cash from previous sessions.  Those are dollars we could use for one-time investments and to bolster savings, but we must not build that money into the budget for ongoing expenses.  When that happens, you just create a hole down the line when those funds are not available. That’s why it’s so important to take a look back before planning for the future.  My first year in the Legislature, the state was facing a $600 million hole. The next year it was $800 million, then my third year, it was more than $1 billion. I don’t ever want us to be in that situation again. Read more » by Jamison Faught - March 18, 2022 at 08:20PM

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