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State operating budget finally clears committee RelatedState workers can breathe a little easier now. A legislative conference committee has finally passed an operating budget to keep government running when the new fiscal year begins July 1. The budget -- about $9 billion total including about $7 billion in state funds -- is expected to go to the House and Senate floors on Friday. It's anticipated to slide through since the spending plan is the end result of a difficult negotiating process that both sides have finally agreed to. The compromise also put more money toward Gov. Sean Parnell's idea of paying for college scholarships for high-achieving high school graduates. A previous version of the operating budget had split $9 million in scholarship money between needs-based scholarships and Parnell's merit scholarships, $4.5 million each. On Wednesday, the final bill contained $6 million for Parnell's plan and $3 million for needs-based assistance. Another $400 million for performance scholarships could be included in the capital budget, which is still stuck in a political tug-of-war between the House and the Senate. Also left up in the air is the state's coastal zone management program. The operating budget restored about $6.7 million to fund the program, which is still under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee. The program is set to sunset on July 1 unless the Legislature reauthorizes it. Coastal communities want a stronger voice in development in their areas and have said it would be better to the the program revert to federal management rather then simply pass an extension of the current program. The operating budget directs $1 billion into the state's statutory budget reserve account and $400 million into the Power Cost Equalization Fund, a savings plan of sorts that helps local communities deal with high energy costs. The operating budget is the only spending measure that the Legislature must pass because it pays for government operations. The capital budget, about $2.5 billion, is a sore point this year and its fate is still unclear even though lawmakers have been meeting in a special session for more than two weeks to sort it out. Sen. Lyman Hoffman, the lead Senate negotiator on the operating budget, thanked conference committee chairman Rep. Bill Thomas, the House's lead negotiator, for working through the problems. "It took a little bit longer than we anticipated," Hoffman said. Thomas, a veteran of previous budget skirmishes, just smiled. "After 30 years of friendship, it's pretty hard to fall apart over a piece of paper," he said. Contact Patti Epler at patti(at)alaskadispatch.com jimbehlke is correct the State’s budget operating is out control. Parnell has over spent last year’s budget by several hundred million. Parnell has got to go! Alaska probably has a bit more than 700,000 people. A 9 billion dollar operating budget amounts to close to 13,000 dollars (for FY 2012) for each Alaska citizen, or more than 50,000 dollars/ year for a family of four. The State will pay most but not all of this amount in the operating budget. This doesn't even include the capital budget. I'm o.k. with the phenomenal cost, although we should realize our State government can only operate at these levels with oil revenues-- there is no way a family of four Alaskans would cough up 50 or 70 thousand dollars each year to to sustain Alaska's government at current spending levels. |
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