TAC Analyzes State Budget Impact on Counties

To understand the fiscal impact of the proposed state budgets (House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1) filed last week, the TAC County Information Program (CIP) has prepared a 24-page report that compares HB 1 and SB 1 with the current state budget for 2012-13. Remember, this same time last session, many of these local programs were in jeopardy of losing state funding.

Overall, both proposed bills (HB 1 and SB 1) are similar in terms of how much money to spend – HB 1 totals $187.7 billion and SB 1 totals $186.6 billion for the upcoming biennium (2014-15). The figures represent a less than 2 percent (or $3 billion) decrease from the current state budget. In terms of general revenue, HB 1 proposes to use $89.1 billion, while SB 1 proposes $88.9 billion. The amount of general revenue used by both bills is somewhat lower than what has been advocated by various political pundits in the newspapers lately – an additional $6 billion to $7 billion (a total of $96 billion) is needed to maintain state agencies’ current level of services.

Within the report, each local program is listed under a particular agency followed by a short description explaining the purpose of the program. Below the explanation is a comparison table showing the differences between HB 1 and SB 1. Included in the description is a brief comment noting how each program fared within the proposed budgets.

As CIP continues to monitor the state budget over the next several months, expect frequent updates.

For more information, contact Paul Emerson, TAC state financial analyst, at (800) 456-5974.