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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State Ready For Lean Times, Batt Says Governor Tells Idaho Labor Leaders What He Told Businessmen Recently

Associated Press

Republican Gov. Phil Batt continued his warnings Monday of a slowdown in the state economy, telling Idaho’s labor leaders that aggressive jobcreation strategies combined with government’s fiscal restraint can head off serious economic disruption.

“We will continue to outperform the nation, but not at the rapid pace we have witnessed during the last few years,” Batt told the annual convention of the AFLCIO in Lewiston.

“We have, at times, found ourselves on the opposite side of some issues,” Batt acknowledged in a reference to his support of the right-to-work law that labor so vigorously - but unsuccessfully - fought in the 1980s.

But, the governor said, “I have never let that deter me from working to improve the lot of our labor force.”

As he did four days earlier before the annual convention of Idaho’s business leaders, Batt said the economic slowdown from the dramatic growth of recent years will leave the state with any number of tough spending decisions.

Before the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry last week, he predicted that revenues could fall several million dollars short of estimates, which could force some financial manipulation to keep the state in the black when the budget year ends on June 30.

But Batt told labor leaders that the state has prepared itself for leaner times, and he said his Business Expansion Committee, which will be named by month’s end, should soften the impact of the slowdown.

“This committee will consist of some of the finest and most successful minds in Idaho and will direct its energies at creating job opportunities and attracting business to Idaho,” Batt said.

The committee’s effort to blunt what Batt sees as an impending downturn augments the conservative approach the governor - and the Republicandominated Legislature - took on the state budget, an approach that, Batt said, “has put the state in the so-called driver’s seat.”

Instead of committing the state to years of annual payments on major projects such as a new prison and juvenile detention facilities, Batt and lawmakers set aside all the needed cash from a one-time surplus.

Then they dramatically limited the increase in the state payroll and diverted $40 million in cash to property tax relief.

While the state will have to pay for that tax relief each year - and at an increasing amount as property values continue to rise - Batt maintained that keeping the cash out of the state’s operating budget leaves taxpayers with the kind of budget base they can afford.

Critics, however, have argued that the individual amount of tax relief provided by the Batt plan is inconsequential to homeowners - if they see it at all - and that the $40 million could have been much better spent on any one of a backlog of state needs.