Missouri state budget

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The state of Missouri may be facing a $600 million or $1 billion shortfall by 2012, with the state predicting the smaller figure and the Missouri Budget Project the higher estimate.^[1] Since the adoption of the FY 2010 budget more than $700 million has been cut from the total budget - $23.7 billion budget. However, even more cuts are anticipated for the future, as a result of no future federal stabilization funds.^[2] Missouri used $860 million form the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but these funds will be gone by 2012.^[3]

Missouri will receive approximately $482 million from the federal government under H.R. 1586, a $26 billion plan to give states money for Medicaid and education that the President signed into law on August 10, 2010.^[4]

See also: The Missouri State Budget on State Budget Solutions

[edit] Fiscal Year 2011 State Budget

The federal stimulus bill will provide the state with $292 million for Medicaid and $189.7 million for education, which is expected to save 3,000 jobs across the state.^[5]

Gov. Jay Nixon proposed a nearly $23.9 billion operating budget in January, 2010, but tax revenues continued to decline following the governor's proposal. The House of Representatives and Senate negotiated a $23 billion state budget for Fiscal Year 2011.^[6] State officials said, however, that they are uncertain about when — or if — Missouri will receive an extension of federal stimulus money, and also concerned about declining revenues. Given those factors, Nixon said that an additional $500 million needed to be trimmed from his budget plan.^[6] The budget crafted by legislators does not appear to meet the cuts called for to balance the FY 2011 budget.^[6] In terms of revenue sources, the budget assumes that education will reap $3 from increased lottery game sales for every $1 of advertising spent by the state. Budget negotiators agreed to boost advertising for the Missouri Lottery by $8 million — a more than sixfold increase, although it decreased the tourism's budget by 40%.^[6] In the budget approved by the legislature on April 29, 201, state funds, mostly derived from taxes, constitute about $7.8 billion 0 —$484.2 million less than the recommendation Nixon, a Democrat, put forward in January.^[7] Lawmakers also held state funding for schools steady at just over $3 billion, a move not in keeping with the state’s formula for K-12 education funding, which calls for a $106 million increase. In his budget, Nixon had proposed an $18 million increase.^[7]

Net general revenue collections declined in Missouri to 9.1 percent to $6.77 billion for fiscal year 2010.^[8] ending June 30th, compared to $7.45 billion in fiscal year 2009, according to figures released Friday.

[edit] 2009-2010 budget crisis

Gov. Jay Nixon announced October 28, 2009 $204 million in additional cuts, eliminating 700 state jobs above the $430 million in cuts and freezes back in June.^[9] Gov. Nixon vetoed $105 million in state spending and froze $325 million of planned allocations for FY 2010 in June of 2009.^[10]

FY 2010 1st Quarter Revenues

• Net Individual Income Tax -10.7 %
• Net Sales & Use Tax -6.8%
• Net Corporate Income Tax -15.9%
• Total Net General Revenue -10.0%

Gov. Nixon decided against furloughs because the cost savings were not as great as eliminating positions.^[11]

Missouri borrowed $150 million more from its cash reserves on October 9, 2009 bringing the total to $350 million borrowed since the start of FY 2010 on July 1, 2009 with $170 million remaining in the reserve fund. The FY 2010 budget was based on a 1 percent decline in revenue from FY 2009, but the state has seen a 10 percent decline since July 1 and a 16 percent drop for September 2009. FY 2009 saw an almost 7 percent drop from FY 2008.^[12] According to state officials, state revenue fell 7 percent in fiscal year 2009 and in the first seven months of fiscal year 2010, revenues were 12.5 percent below predictions.^[13]

[edit] 2008-2009 budget crisis

See also: Missouri state budget (2008-2009)

[edit] Budget Background

Missouri's fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30th of the following year. In October state department agencies prepare budget requests and revenue estimates for the upcoming budget year. By the end of December the Governor reviews both the requests and the revenue estimates prior to presenting a budget recommendation to the Legislature. Both the House and the Senate review the bill, hold a series of hearings and make any necessary amendments prior to approving the budget. The Senate usually finishes their work on budget about three weeks before the Legislature adjourns at the end of April. But, all appropriations bills must be passed by the General Assembly one week before the session ends, May 8, 2009. The appropriations are then forwarded to the Governor who has line item veto power and can reduce or eliminate any amount of funding for any item in a bill before signing it into law. ^[14]

[edit] Budget figures

The following table provides a history of Missouri's expenditures and gross domestic product (GDP).

Fiscal Year	Expenditures (billions)	GDP (billions)
2000	$28.0 [15]	$176.7 [15]
2001	$30.5 [15]	$182.4 [15]
2002	$33.0 [15]	$188.4 [15]
2003	$34.3 [15]	$195.5 [15]
2004	$35.6 [15]	$204.9 [15]
2005	$37.2 [15]	$213.0 [15]
2006	$39.5 [15]	$220.1 [15]
2007	$41.9 [15]	$229.5 [15]
2008	$44.5 [15]	$239.2 [15]
2009	$47.3* [15]	$249.4* [15]

• NOTE: The figures for FY 2009 won't be finalized until the end of the fiscal year.

[edit] Accounting Principles

Main article: Missouri government accounting principles

Susan Montee was elected Missouri State Auditor in November of 2006. The State Auditor's Office is Missouri's independent watchdog agency, charged with auditing approximately 200 state agencies and boards and commissions; the state court system, including 45 judicial circuits and nearly 400 municipal courts; and the 89 counties in Missouri that do not have a county auditor. The State Auditor may also be called on to audit local units of government by citizen petition. On average, 20 audits of local government entities are performed each year. Missouri's audit reports are published online.^[16]

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel is the State of Missouri's Chief Financial Officer, elected in November of 2008. The State Treasurer's Office manages Missouri's annual state revenues, directs the State's banking services and manages Missouri's $3.1 billion investment portfolio.^[17]

The Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA) rates Missouri “Tardy” in filing the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) – The annual report of state and local governmental entities. IFTA rated 22 states timely, 22 states tardy, and 6 states as worst. IFTA does not consider Missouri's CAFRs, and those of the other states, to be accurate representations of the state’s financial condition because the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis does not include significant liabilities for the pension plans and for other post employment benefits, such as health care.^[18] Missouri's CAFRs are published online by the Missouri Division of Accounting.^[19]

The Missouri Division of Accounting is responsible for operation of the statewide accounting and payroll systems and is the custodian of the official accounting records of the state. The division prepares payments, publishes annual financial reports, administers bond sales for the Board of Fund Commissioners and Board of Public Buildings, and administers the social security coverage for state political subdivisions. Mark A. Kaiser is Director of the Division of Accounting.^[20]

Credit Rating	Fitch	Moody's	S&P
Missouri[21]	AAA	Aaa	AAA

[edit] Budget transparency

Missouri Accountability Portal is the name of the publicly available website created by the Missouri government. It discloses information about the Missouri government's spending, and includes data on state employee salaries, agency expenditures, and tax credit information. The Missouri Accountability Portal was created at the Executive Order of Governor Matt Blunt in July 2007.

[edit] News

The National Taxpayers Union pulled expenditure information from the Missouri Accountability Portal (MAP) and issued a press release in August 2008 detailing the discovery of more than $2.4 million of taxpayer money spent for questionable purposes over the past eight years, including purchases made at bakeries, beauty salons, bra stores, coffee shops, and picture-framing galleries, among others.

The state of Missouri spent $15,482.57 at Ann's Bra Shop from 2000 to 2008 for "professional services" and "clothing supplies." Over the same period, government employees spent more than $1.6 million at coffee shops, $387,210.14 at framing stores, $278,053.46 at florists and nurseries, and $70,849.02 at donut bakeries.

Other dubious expenditures found by NTU include $936.75 spent at The Corsage Shop, $232.00 at Doris' Beauty Shop, $1,651.27 at The Jean Shop, $348.70 at the Budget Rose Shop, $6,964.55 at Susie's Bake Shoppe, and $3,803.00 at the Westside Barber Shop. In 2000, $12.00 was spent at Ann's Hair & Nail Shop for "other professional services."

Governor Blunt responded by asking the state’s Office of Administration to review the expenditures, which found that the Ann's Bra Shop purchases were legitimate Department of Corrections expenses for special-needs products for female inmates in Missouri’s prison system. Said Governor Blunt in a statement, "This is exactly what we expected and envisioned when we created the MAP site. Transparency and openness help root out wasteful spending and we welcome this scrutiny.”^[22]

[edit] Government tools

Missouri Accountability Portal provides a database of state financial information, which is searchable by criteria such as expenditures, vendors, contracts, and employee names. The following table is helpful in evaluating the level of transparency provided by Missouri Accountability Portal:

Criteria for evaluating spending databases

State Database	Searchability	Grants	Contracts	Line Item Expenditures	Dept/Agency Budgets	Public Employee Salary
Missouri Accountability Portal

See also: Evaluation of Missouri state website

[edit] Limitations and Suggestions

National Taxpayers Union noted that "Unfortunately, MAP only goes so far in telling you what was actually behind the expenditures. Often, the spending record data will dead-end at 'professional services,' 'supplies,' or 'non-contract purchases.' While it's possible that some of these purchases are fairly innocuous, the name of the vendor alone gives reason for taxpayers to at least question the expense. The next step for MAP should be posting line-item information from purchase receipts on the spending portal. Taxpayers need to see exactly how those funds were spent."^[23]

[edit] Public employee salary information

Main article: Mississippi state government salary

The Missouri Accountability Portal provides information about state employees pay. Users can view pay information about the employees of the State of Missouri by their Agency of employment, Position Title or Employee Name. The provides gross pay amounts by the last pay cycle and year to date.

The Better Government Association offers this database of selected public payrolls. The BGA database includes salaries of employees of the State of Missouri along with the states of Illinois and Indiana.

[edit] Economic Stimulus Transparency

Missouri will receive approximately $486 million from the federal government under H.R. 1586, a $26 billion plan to give states money for Medicaid and education that the President signed into law on August 10, 2010.^[24]

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan of 2009 designated $787 billion to be spent throughout the U.S. Of that $787 billion stimulus package, it is estimated that 69%, or over $541 billion, will be administered by state governments.^[25]

Missouri received an estimated $2,889,357,187 from the [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan].^[26]

One program, which will use $66.3 million of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and ultimately cost $85 million, will expand broadband coverage to 660,000 homes and businesses acorss the state.

Missouri, along with two partners, plan to spend $85 million to expand the availability of broadband, connecting 660,000 homes and businesses across the state.^[27]

• The economic recovery website to show how legislators and government officials in Missouri are spending Federal funds is available here.

Two Missouri projects were noted in Senator Coburn and Senator McCain's "Summertime Blues, 100 stimulus projects that give taxpayers the blues" report. Scientists at the University of Missouri received stimulus funds to develop freezing protocols for rat sperm to facilitate the reconstitution of genetics by in vitro fertilization methods.^[28] In another project, the Army Corp of Engineers spent over $400,000 on to design and build exhibits at the National Great Rivers Museum and other sites outside of St. Louis, Missouri.^[28]

[edit] Error in ARRP

On November 16 and 17, 2009, many errors were found in the $747 billion plan that showed the plan set aside money for districts that do not exist. According to Recovery.gov, the plan shows its funds will go to 884 Congressional Districts, though there are only 435.^[29][30]

Missouri's 14th district, eliminated after the 1930 census, is to receive $600,000 in stimulus money, according to the ARRP website. It was joined by a handful of other non-existent districts to receive stimulus dollars, totaling $928,566 to create/sustain 8.5 jobs.^[31]

[edit] See Also

• Missouri taxpayer-funded lobbying

[edit] External links

[edit] Additional reading

[edit] References

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