As I wrote in my column today over at Carolina Journal Online, much of the political rhetoric and media coverage of the new state budget deal in Raleigh are beside the point. They are based on an incomplete summary of state spending in the budget document, leaving out programs that will continue under (temporary) federal bailout funding rather than funded, as previously, by state sources.
Still, as I have worked my way through the ?money report? ? essentially a set of spreadsheets issued to accompany the budget bill itself ? I?ve been able to tally some of the federal bailout spending when it is specifically referred to. Just to be clear: not all the federal bailout money to be spent in the state budget can be detected this way, because it?s present in the money report only when there is a specific substitution of federal for state dollars. Still, this probably captures the bulk of the new federal dollars.
So here?s what I have for the largest segments of the FY 2009-10 budget. Let?s start with Health & Human Services.
08-09 Authorized Budget (long-since-outdated)
$4,956,587,127
08-09 Actual Budget Spent (estimated about two months ago)
$4,763,003,252
09-10 Authorized Budget (including federal bailout)
$4,795,893,755
Difference
Up $32,890,503, or just shy of 1 percent.
Public schools up next.
