Budget Woes
From the Union Leader:
State Spending shouldn’t be decided by 11 people
By CHARLES M. ARLINGHAUS
STATE BUDGET deficits and needed spending cuts have transferred power to the elite Legislative Fiscal Committee, a sort of super Legislature where 10 privileged members exercise power on behalf of the other 414 senators and representatives.
One of the most prestigious positions in state government is to serve on the joint House-Senate “Legislative Fiscal Committee.” It was established to oversee the legislative budget office, but with a broad portfolio to investigate any matter related to any part of the finances of the state — essentially everything government does.
Its primary duty is to receive funds. It is authorized, without any vote or amendment to the budget, to accept any non-state funds such as federal grants or private donations for any program. Accepting a grant doesn’t affect state revenue or expenditures, but Rep. Marjorie Smith this year quite sensibly tried to include as many anticipated grants in the official budget document as possible rather than leave them to the fiscal committee.
A more controversial role is the one currently being exercised by the committee. The fiscal committee must approve any spending cuts the governor makes to the budget. In this role, it assumes some of the executive branch role at the same time it acts on behalf of the other 97 percent of the Legislature.
The two-year budget passed last year would be in serious deficit without action. Revenues are expected to be much higher than last year but significantly below the estimates used to balance the budget. The shortfall is expected to be close to $200 million.
When revenues are less than expected, spending cuts quickly follow. The current budget increased spending to $3.189 billion from $2.713 billion the previous biennium. The increase of 17.56 percent amounts to about $476.5 million. Therefore the cuts needed are about 6 percent of the total budget, much less than half of the increase.
The governor, as chief executive officer of the state, has proposed two rounds of spending cuts totaling about $80 million. In the course of evaluating what he chose to cut, some observers have quarreled with his choices.
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Read more here.