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State lawmakers plan to analyze budget holdbacks
Kim King, Journalist
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Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter will meet with state lawmakers on Oct. 15 to continue the discussion of budget holdbacks announced last month. Holdbacks averaged 4 percent and were determined by his trademark “necessary and nice” criteria.
State agencies considered necessary are labeled “Critical and Constitutional Required Services” and are subject to a holdback of 2.5 percent.
Colleges and universities did not meet this criteria.
Instead, they are “Essential Services.” The 6 percent return means a loss of $4.7 million to Boise State.
“Other Services” – like the arts, library, and public broadcasting commissions – average 7.5 percent and match the “nice“ criteria.
C. L. Otter said the differences are much more than distinguishing between necessary and nice.Newparagraph “It goes back to the fundamental requirements and expectations that we have for state government.”.
The announced holdbacks are temporary, but there are some Be more specific. Senators? Homeowners?Giraffes? who feel the real issue is not being addressed in the process.
“It does not make sense to cut or impose holdbacks on higher education when we are seeing record enrollment and record unemployment,” said Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise. “I’m not sure this will produce the needed results to stimulate the economy.”. Period inside
“People are returning to school because they are not working. And if they‘re not working, they‘re not buying,” she said.
More than 40 percent of Idaho’s state tax revenue comes from sales tax.
Russell Fulcher, a Republican senator from Meridian, is highly optimistic. “This isn’t solved yet, but strategic planning is a necessary part of fiscal management. By next week’s meeting, we hope to have the preliminary numbers for September so we can analyze this further.”
Just good, clean, solid news Kim. Great job using access to talk to people the Arbiter usually shys away from
Kate Kelly knows very little about the budgets of higher education, we can cut and still provide the classroom services that are demanded at this time.