Utah state budget (2009-2010)

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's office predicts that the state's budget shortfall for FY2010 was about $28 million, although final numbers will be released in November 2010.^[1] Earlier in the fiscal year, the governor called for state agencies to cut spending by 3% - an estimated $39 million - in FY2010.^[2] The state will receive approximately $156 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.^[3]

Utah gained national attention in 2008, being the first state government in the nation to adopt a 40-hour, four-day work week as a cost saving measure to address state revenue declines.^[4]

Utah has total state debt of $9,254,242,020 when calculated by adding the total of outstanding debt, pension and OPEB UAAL’s, unemployment trust funds and the 2010 budget gap as of July 2010.^[5]

See also: The Utah State Budget on State Budget Solutions

2011 State spending & deficit in billions^[6]

Total spending	Health care	Education	Protection	Transport	Other
$4.8	$.36	$3	$.39	$0.003	$1

2011 Local spending & deficit in billions^[7]

Total spending	Pension	Health care	Education	Welfare	Protection	Transport	Deficit
$14.9	$0	$0.3	$4.3	$0.3	$1.1	$1.2	$16.2

FY2010 State Budget

• See past state budgets

The FY 2010 budget passed by Utah State Legislature and signed by Gov. Jon Huntsman (Gov. Huntsman resigned in August 2009 to become Ambassador to China, and was replaced by Gov. Gary R. Herbert)^[8] projects state tax revenue will be down 17.8 percent from the FY 2009 original projection ($949 million). Utah is expected to receive $1.4 billion ARRA funds through a variety of programs, including $498 million for State Fiscal Stabilization. For additional budget stabilization, Utah maintains the Budget Reserve Fund (Rainy Day Fund) and Education Budget Reserve Fund (Education Rainy Day Fund) with a combined total balance of $418.5 million.^[9]

Utah's total budget for FY 2010 is $11.2 billion, $4.4 billion of which is the General Fund/Education Fund. The state's historical General Fund/Education Fund budgets have been:^[10] The current debt per capita is $957.^[11]

FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009 Original	FY 2009 Adjusted	FY 2010
$5.3 billion	$5.2 billion	$5.3 billion	$4.5 billion	$4.4 billion

Budget Background

Utah's fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30 of the following year. Every year the state's agencies submit budget requests along with past expenditures and allocations. Usually by December the Governor develops a budget recommendation which is then delivered to the Legislature. Following a series of hearings and discussions the Senate and the House make any necessary changes before approving the final bill. Once the appropriations bills are debated and the Legislature as a whole passes them the bills are signed by the Governor. ^[12]

By law, the Governor, within three days after the convening of the Legislature in the annual general session, submits a budget for the ensuing fiscal year. However, at least 34 days before the submission of any budget, the Governor delivers a confidential draft copy of his proposed budget recommendations.^[13]

John Nixon is Executive Director of the Utah Governor's Office of Planning and Budget (GOPB). The Budget section under the direction of Phillip Jeffery, provides budgetary analyses, reviews program plans and budget details, and prepares budget detail for the annual Governor's Budget Recommendation to the Utah State Legislature. At the conclusion of each general session, analysts summarize appropriations and monitor expenditures throughout the year.^[14]

• In March 2008 the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) presented a report, Rich States, Poor States, that stated that Utah's low taxes and controlled spending mean it's primed for prosperity. "The economic growth really, really shows that limited government and low taxes are the way to prosper in this world," said Jonathan Williams, ALEC's director of tax and fiscal policy task force and co-author of the report. ^[15]

Budget figures

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

Fiscal Year	Expenditures (billions)	GDP (billions)
2000	$13.0 [16]	$67.6 [16]
2001	$14.3 [16]	$70.1 [16]
2002	$15.5 [16]	$72.7 [16]
2003	$16.1 [16]	$75.4 [16]
2004	$16.7 [16]	$80.9 [16]
2005	$17.3 [16]	$88.9 [16]
2006	$18.5 [16]	$98.0 [16]
2007	$19.9 [16]	$105.7 [16]
2008	$21.3 [16]	$114.0 [16]
2009	$22.8* [16]	$122.9* [16]

• NOTE: The figures for FY 2009 won't be finalized until the end of the fiscal year.
• See Utah state budget (2008-2009) for more information.

Accounting Principles

The Utah Office of the State Auditor is responsible for state and local audits. The Financial Audit Division is responsible for auditing all state departments, agencies and colleges and universities. The Local Government Division ensures uniform accounting, budgeting, and financial reporting by Utah's local governments. Audit reports for the current year and two prior years are available online. Older reports not listed on their Web site may be obtained by emailing: lsiebenhaar@utah.gov. Auston Johnson has been State Auditor since July 1995 and was re-elected for a four-year term starting January 1, 2009.^[17]

The Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA) rates Utah “Timely” 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 Utah'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] Utah's CAFRs are a publication of the Utah Division of Finance (DAF), a division within the Utah State Department of Administrative Services (DAS). Kimberly K. Hood is Executive Director of the DAS, and John Reidhead is the Director of the Division of Finance, Utah's chief fiscal officer and responsible for exercising accounting control over state departments and agencies except institutions of higher education. DAF responsibilities include:^[19]

• Procedures for the approval and allocation of funds
• Accounting control over fund assets
• Approval of proposed expenditures

The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) was created by the Forty-fourth Legislature in March 1981 with passage of the Administrative Services Act. This action was a result of an organizational study of state administrative services by the Governor's Committee on Executive Reorganization (Agency #357).^[20]

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

Budget transparency

• See sample transparency legislation at the Sunshine Standard

In 2008, the Utah State Legislature passed SB 38. The bill proposed the availability of public financial information on the Internet. Additionally it modified notice requirements of the Open and Public Meetings Act. ^[22] As noted below, Utah's spending transparency website was launched in May 2009.

• 05/22/09: Transparency Site Launched in Utah:

Spending transparency continues to spread, this week with the launch of Utah's new spending database. This site reveals some of the state's finances and includes expenditure and revenue data beginning with fiscal year 2009. In the next twelve months even more data will be put online, data such as financials for institutions of higher education, school districts, and charter schools. Overseeing this site and its contents are the Utah Transparency Advisory Board and the Department of Administrative Services (Division of Finance). The site does not post state employee salaries, although some information about Utah's employees' salaries is already available here.

Utah Senate Bill 38 (2008), Transparency in Government mandated the creation of a publicly available spending database by May 15, 2009. To learn more about SB 38, read the Sutherland Institute's policy analysis, "Transparency in Government."

The following table is helpful in evaluating the level of transparency provided by Utah's spending and transparency database:

Criteria for evaluating spending databases

State Database	Searchability	Grants	Contracts	Line Item Expenditures	Dept/Agency Budgets	Public Employee Salary
Transparent Utah	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N

Although this database does not list information about Utah's contracts, that information has been made available here.

See also: Evaluation of Utah state website

Economic Stimulus Transparency

• Utah will receive approximately $156 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.^[23]

• Utah was to receive an estimated $1,770,714,250 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan of 2009.^[24]

One Utah project was noted in Senator Coburn and Senator McCain's "Summertime Blues, 100 stimulus projects that give taxpayers the blues" report. Nearly 1,600 students at Kearns High School will get iPod touches next school year as a result of federal stimulus Enhancing Education Through Technology grant for $1 million.^[25]

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.^[26][27]

The stimulus package sent nearly $1.7 million to four congressional districts in Utah that do not exist, according to the ARRP tracking website. Utah has only 3 congressional districts, saw the majority of that money distributed to two non-existent Districts. District 4 was given more than $1.1 million and District 00, a label reserved for states with only one congressman, received nearly $540,000.

District 00 claimed to create or save 26 jobs, while District 4 did not produce any jobs, despite twice the amount of funding.^[28]

See Also

Utah government sector lobbying

Utah public pensions

External links

Additional reading

• Governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr.,"Governor Huntsman's 2009 State of the State Address," January 27,2009

References

v t e State Budgets Cost of state transparency websites • State budget issues • Pubic employee salaries • Public pensions • States with spending online • Glossary of state budget terms Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming •

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