Public TV ‘thankful’ for state funding

BOISE – Though legislative budget writers cut nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from the governor’s recommended budget for Idaho Public Television for next year, supporters of public TV said they were thankful for what they got.

“I’m very thankful to the state in times when the budget is very tight, that they’ve recognized the value of public television and the service that we provide to all parts of Idaho,” said Peter Morrill, general manager.

The IPTV budget, pared back significantly but still aimed at partially funding pressing equipment-replacement needs, is typical of how the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee is approaching setting the state budget this year. The lawmakers have set a target of cutting back the budget from Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s proposed overall 6.7 percent increase to a 4.1 percent increase in general state tax funds.

“We’re not going to put ourselves in a situation where we’re forced to raise taxes next year,” said Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron. “We’re going to be very frugal. I think the committee is working very diligently, both sides of the aisle.”

The IPTV budget plan Monday was proposed by a Democrat, Rep. Shirley Ringo of Moscow, and passed on a 17-3 vote. Most importantly, it fit within JFAC’s target. Ringo’s plan did that in part by tapping a reserve fund built up from a cigarette tax increase to pay for half of the cost to upgrade outdated broadcasting equipment at the network’s main Boise studio – an expense the governor had planned to have the state cover next year with general tax funds.

IPTV will apply for a federal matching grant for the other half of the money.

“The equipment has to be replaced – we’ll be very aggressive at beating the bushes,” Morrill said.

In fact, Morrill sat with two large, heavy Federal Express boxes in his lap as he watched the joint committee set his agency’s budget Monday morning. The boxes contained piles of file folders that make up two major federal grant applications – both due in Washington, D.C., today.

The panel didn’t include any matching funds for the second grant, which would pay for upgrading translator stations from analog to digital broadcasting. Morrill said he’ll try to find private donations or other grants to pay for the $10,000 local match on that grant.

Rep. Kathy Skippen, R-Emmett, said, “When you look at a lot of rural Idaho, we don’t have access to cable. Public television provides an excellent service and a really quality product.”

The only opponents of the budget plan were Reps. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries; Mel Richardson, R-Idaho Falls; and Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth. At least two of the three said they are against any state funding for public television because it competes with commercial TV.

Harwood said in an interview after the meeting, “I’ve never felt that any public dollars should go for competing against private enterprise. I think last year I voted for that, and I regretted it after.”

But most of the JFAC members were supportive of Idaho Public TV. “Maybe it’s my age, but I find very little on other television that I can watch,” said Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston. “I think that we need to support them.”

Cameron called Ringo’s budget proposal, which Lodge seconded, “a creative approach that allowed us to help public television, and at the same time allowed us to keep within our target budget.”

Also on Monday, JFAC set pared-down budgets for the Idaho State Library, the Idaho Transportation Department and the Public Utilities Commission.

In the state library budget, the budget writers dipped into the public school technology budget for $50,000 to keep operating the Libraries Linking Idaho database project, allowing the state library to keep about $25,000 to buy books next year – otherwise, there would’ve been no money for books. “That’s everything to a library,” Cameron said.

The ITD budget had only minor reductions from the governor’s proposal, as it uses no state general tax funds. ITD operates mainly with federal highway funds and direct funding from gas taxes.

So far, the most controversial budget decision has come in the state Commerce and Labor Department budget, where the joint committee eliminated the governor’s plan to boost rural development funding.

“I’m sure Commerce is disappointed,” Cameron said, adding that the rural development program has “done a great job. … But we aren’t in a position where we can add additional resources to that budget at this point in time.”

Once the joint committee sets budgets, they’re rarely amended or voted down in the full House or Senate. But the governor has been known to veto budgets he sees as inadequate.

The toughest decisions still lie ahead, on Medicaid and public education. The governor acknowledged that his Medicaid budget fell about $20 million short for next year, in hopes that additional federal aid would materialize. So far, it hasn’t.

On public schools, the governor’s budget didn’t anticipate an additional 90 classrooms worth of students enrolling this year, which is causing an $11 million shortfall in the current year and an equal shortfall for next year.

To meet JFAC’s target, the public school budget for next year will have to be set at even less than the governor recommended.

Said Cameron, “It’s going to be tough.”