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gloria
等级:Senior
文章:883
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门派:China
注册:2007-2-26 16:39:03 |
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 Setting revenue projection could open valve
BATON ROUGE ?A long-awaited meeting of a panel that will tell the Louisiana Legislature how much money is available for spending or tax cuts could open the valve that has kept numerous spending and tax cut bills bottled up in committees.
The Revenue Estimating Conference is scheduled to meet today after the Senate and House of Representatives adjourn. Although many lawmakers are expecting a huge increase because of the post-hurricane boom that pumped up state revenue, early indications are that the growth has leveled off.
Sen. Robert Adley, D-Benton, vice chairman of the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee, said Commissioner of Administration Jerry Luke Leblanc told him that "it's going to be fairly flat, with an increase of about $100 million and not the big numbers everybody expects."
State revenue has been growing at a relatively steady rate for several years, he said, but was inflated with the influx of federal money for hurricane recovery.
"It's a huge amount of money," Adley said "The governor has proposed spending it in a manner she thinks it should be spent, but everybody's got his own idea about that."
"It's not as much as some people think, but more than we have," said Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which has the $29 billion-plus House Bill 1, the state budget bill, and numerous other spending proposals awaiting action.
Committee members have proposed $700 million worth of amendments to attach to the House Bill 1, Alario said.
"It's not only the spending bills but all the tax breaks and shifting money out of the general fund. It's a lot more than we have, I promise you."
Rep. Taylor Townsend, D-Natchitoches, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said now that the estimating conference is meeting and establishing how much can be spend.
"We're going to have to start moving some bills. First, we have to decide what bills we can afford."
Townsend said 270 tax break bills dealing with about 30 different topics have been referred to his committee.
"There's no doubt we can't afford it all," he said. "No matter what we do, if we work out an investment in education and use nonrecurring revenues for roads and bridges, we've made a positive stand in helping this state grow economically and in every way."
Townsend said he favors giving tax relief, but "we have to balance that with investing in education."
Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, voice chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said all his committee can do is wait to see what the House of Representatives does with House Bill 1 because spending bills have to go through the House before they come to the Senate.
"The Senate has to wait on the House, but the Senate gets the last bite at the apple."
Adley said he's concerned how the Blanco administration is putting money in several different funds for later use and it does not affect the cap on state spending.
"I'm concerned that when we leave here and the new year starts July 1, the budget committee, (with a budget adjustment process) can move the money back into the budget.
"There's so much money floating around," he said.
Adley said his priorities for dealing with it are "first the taxpayers, with whatever tax break we can give," followed by economic development, which includes roads and infrastructure, then pay raises for employees. |
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