Spending Foes Like Batt Plan Budget Proposal Will Force Some Difficult Decisions

For fiscal conservatives, Gov. Phil Batt’s new budget plan must look like a dream come true.

Conservatives have called for years for a leaner state budget, fewer workers and less emphasis on expanding programs.

They got all that from Batt’s new budget. The question is whether the Legislature can live with it and the inevitable hard decisions that follow.

After Batt declared that he’s seeking an increase of just 4.7 percent in the budget year starting next July, legislative leaders immediately announced their support.

After all, they said, you can’t spend money you don’t have. The GOP governor predicts a slowing of the Idaho economy, which means less tax revenue to spend.

And to a person, legislators say they are in no mood to raise taxes just so the state can spend more.

Batt declared that he’s eliminating 245 positions, and state employment already was down 100 in the first year of his tenure. That doesn’t mean layoffs. Batt will get state agencies to eliminate jobs that haven’t been filled.

But when it gets down to specifics, the Legislature may find it harder to go along with the governor. For example, Batt wants to eliminate the state’s $69,000 payment to the Epilepsy League.

His aides say the governor sees no justification for the state to be making donations to private, nonprofit organizations, no matter how worthy the cause.

The Legislature knows that, but has found it hard to say no in the past.

With a bare-bones budget, the Legislature will find itself making a lot of those hard decisions this time.

Batt will have his biggest battle over funding for public schools. He recommended an increase of $25.5 million from general tax revenue, about $21 million less than education leaders want. In an unusual alliance, both state Schools Superintendent Anne Fox and Idaho Education Association President Monica Beaudoin urged lawmakers to add at least $10 million.

There’s also the matter of the spending holdback Batt ordered last year. The 2 percent cut will cost schools $13 million.

The Legislature could do nothing, which means school property taxes will automatically go up to offset the loss. Or it could adopt a “negative supplemental,” lowering the appropriation approved last winter for schools.

That could be political suicide. Few lawmakers want their names on legislation taking money from public schools. So the likelihood is they will restore most, if not all, of that $13 million from the $32 million reserve account.