State ends fiscal year better than expected
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July 14, 2011 |
(BOISE) – Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter announced
Tuesday that the State ended fiscal year 2011 on
June 30 with significantly more General Fund tax
revenue than expected, but not enough to warrant
big changes in the cautious, conservative
approach to budgeting that yielded such a
positive result.
The State received $2.44 billion from all forms
of tax receipts – sales, income and corporate –
in the past 12 months. That was $85.3 million
more than the most recent Division of Financial
Management projection in January, and 7.95
percent ahead of total tax receipts in fiscal
2010.
 "I'm
grateful for the revenue growth. But I still
think that we're a long way from out of the
woods," Governor Otter said. "You need to
remember that this is about half a billion
dollars less than we had in my first year as
Governor. So we're going to keep working hard to
grow our economy, and along with it our
revenues."
Under Senate Bill 1207 passed by the 2011 Idaho
Legislature, most of the unexpected additional
revenue will be distributed to public schools
and community colleges to meet the federal
"maintenance of effort" requirements that the
State agreed to under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act and the Fed Jobs Act, which
allocated federal funding to state education
programs.
Public schools will receive a little over $59.9
million, distributed to local school districts
through the Idaho Department of Education. The
State Board of Education has determined that –
based on enrollment growth – the College of
Western Idaho will receive about $5 million,
North Idaho College almost $1.8 million, and the
College of Southern Idaho almost $668,000, for a
total of about $7.5 million to community
colleges.
All $59.9 million in additional public school
funding can be used at the discretion of local
trustees. However, Governor Otter urged them to
be prudent with the one-time funds, to save as
much as they can for future needs, and not to
obligate the money to continuing expenses.
Senator Dean Cameron of Rupert and
Representative Maxine Bell of Jerome – co-chairs
of the Legislature's budget-writing Joint
Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC),
echoed the call for continued caution despite
the one-time payment that was a key part of the
budget plan agreed upon by legislators and the
Governor.
"Today's positive news is greatly needed and
appreciated for Idaho's school districts and
community colleges. I am grateful to the JFAC
committee, legislative budget office, the
Legislature and the Governor for agreeing to
this approach," Cameron said.
"None of us wanted to see further reductions in
education, but the instability of the economic
numbers forced us into a cautious approach,"
Bell said. "With this approach, JFAC and the
Legislature shared with the Governor the desire
that any additional available funds would go
first to education, and today's news delivers on
that commitment."
Besides one-time money for education, Governor
Otter determined that the unanticipated revenue
will enable the next phased increase to the
grocery tax credit for those who file State
income tax returns. That will provide about $15
million in income tax relief for Idaho
taxpayers.
"That's one of the promises we made long ago,
and we've desperately tried to keep it," the
Governor said.
Governor Otter also said he would be contacting
former Governor Cecil Andrus about a friendly
wager they made when fiscal year 2011 started in
mid-2010. Governor Andrus bet State revenue
would exceed the official projection from
Governor Otter's budget office.
"I made a silly bet with Andrus. I was hoping
that he was right, and then I did everything I
could do to make sure he was right," Governor
Otter said. "It's a payment that I'm very happy
to make." |
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