The Senate Appropriations Committees met this afternoon to introduce their budget proposals. The Natural and Economic Resources Committee includes Agriculture Services, Dept of Labor, Dept of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)with 43% of the budget, Dept of Commerce, NC Biotech Center and the Rural Economic Development Center. The Senate proposes a $484 million budget for 2009-2010.
There are three key strategies with the Senate budget:
Management flexibility provides the agencies with the ability to manage a certain reduction amount in a manner best suited to the agency. Over $2 million in NER budget.
They eliminate continuation budget increases by reducing an increase included in the Continutation Budget for the following fiscal year. The Senate budget does not decrease the amount an agency currently has to operate.
The Senate proposes a fundshift of positions to receipt support and directs agencies (either federal, grant, or fees) to support what was previously funded out of the General Fund. This saves the General Fund moneywithout eliminating filled positions.
To fundshift, there are many fee increases (commercial fertilizer, pesticide registration, restaurant inspections, certification fee for nursuries, some veterinary services) and shifts from General Fund funding to receipt supported services (Dept of Labor Apprenticeships, radiation protection agents, legal specialists, deputy commissioners and program assistants) As in the governor’s budget, the Senate eliminates unfilled positions, about 95, many that have been vacant for years.
They divert money that is supposed to go into a scrap tire disposal fee and put it in the General Fund and authorize an assessment on primary forest products like softwood and hardwood sawtimber, pulp wood and cypress products.
There’s a 2% reduction for 27 Grassroots Science programs that include the Carolina Raptor Center, Discovery Place, Greensboro Children’s Museum, Imagination Station and the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute.
The Dept of Commerce will scrap plans for a new executive airplane, transfer funding for a Korean office to the Ports Authority, creates another corporate giveaway program with $3 million for a Small Business Assitance Fund, another fund for “micropolitan” cities to assist with economic development projects and the Rural Economic Development Commissions will get $3 million. They take $4 million out of the One NC Fund and redistribute it: $1million for marketing NC as a business destination, $2 million for the One NC Small Business Fund and $1 million for the NC Minority Support Center. Once again there is no mention of a reduction of the corporate tax rate to provide an attactive business climate for all businesses.
There will be closer looks at the entire Senate proposal over the next few days but the thing that seems clear so far is that even in this tough economy, legislators continue to chip away at the problem with transfers and diversions and eliminating vacant postions while ignoring the real answers found in setting priorites and reforming the way government spends tax revenue. Tough times call for tough decisions. So far, the decisions, just like the budget, are pretty flabby.
