Budget bafflement
House Republicans came out of their caucus Monday with a clear mission ahead of them: Cut state government by 15 percent to balance the Utah budget.
The problem was: 15 percent of what?
Both Speaker-elect Dave Clark and budget chairman Ron Bigelow said Monday that they were planning to whack 15 percent from the budget the Legislature approved in March, before their September special session.
That was news to Senate budget chairman Lyle Hillyard and others, who said the target that leadership had agreed to was 15 percent of the budget post-special session.
What's the difference? About a quarter of a billion dollars.
Turns out the the Senate is right. Legislative leaders from the Best Managed State In America today plan to set base budgets at 85 percent of the special session budget, more than twice the cuts that Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. proposed.
-- Robert Gehrke
The problem was: 15 percent of what?
Both Speaker-elect Dave Clark and budget chairman Ron Bigelow said Monday that they were planning to whack 15 percent from the budget the Legislature approved in March, before their September special session.
That was news to Senate budget chairman Lyle Hillyard and others, who said the target that leadership had agreed to was 15 percent of the budget post-special session.
What's the difference? About a quarter of a billion dollars.
Turns out the the Senate is right. Legislative leaders from the Best Managed State In America today plan to set base budgets at 85 percent of the special session budget, more than twice the cuts that Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. proposed.
-- Robert Gehrke
11:40 AM
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2 Comments:
Interestingly my freshman Representative reported correctly that the 15% cut was on top of the cuts in September. I wonder why the House leadership got it wrong?
Before posting your blog insights. Perhaps listening and/or checking facts might be a good place to start.
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