Budget Released, Faces Scrutiny

A nearly $5.2 billion proposed state budget was unveiled Monday morning as lawmakers and state officials begin the arduous task for negotiations this week.

The Joint Budget Committee turned in the budget during a 9 a.m. meeting at the Capitol.

The budget, part of the Revenue Stabilization Act, sets funding levels for the Fiscal Year 2016, which starts July 1 and goes through June 30, 2016.

Of the $5,186,094,453 set aside in the document, the vast majority of it ($5,069,274,507) covers so-called “A” or top priority items.

Typically, the budget is set up using “A”, “B”, “B1” and “C” priorities with “A” projects and funding getting first attention.

Overall, nearly $100 million is set aside for Category B, $7.6 million in B1 and $10 million in Category C.

The state’s general fund is expected to have $597.8 million, with slight increases across the board.

A large increase was in the reimbursement to county jails for holding state inmates. The amount went from around $16 million to $27.8 million.

Overall, the Public School Fund will include $2.1 billion, while the Human Services Fund will have around $1.3 billion.

The state’s colleges and universities will receive a combined $630 million, with the vast majority ($518.1 million) going to four-year colleges in the state.

The Department of Correction will receive $336.6 million, while the Arkansas Economic Development Commission will have $10.6 million at its disposal, under the proposal.

The proposal did draw some flack Monday.

The Arkansas chapter of the group, Americans for Prosperity, criticized the nearly $40 million set aside for General Improvement Funds, calling the money “earmarks.”

“Arkansans deserve better than $40 million of their hard-earned tax dollars being spent on earmark projects,” AFP-Arkansas State Director David Ray said in a statement. “When voters sent their elected leaders to Little Rock last November, they sent them there to exercise fiscal responsibility, not to continue business as usual.”

In the statement, Ray cited media reports over the weekend about the money – divided equally among legislators and Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

“In January, Talk Business’ Roby Brock reported that Governor Asa Hutchinson said there would be no GIF money in this year’s budget because of greater overall budget priorities. Those comments were consistent with previous campaign statements Hutchinson had made opposing GIF spending,” Ray said in the statement. “AFP-Arkansas will continue to oppose unaccountable GIF earmark spending, and will continue educating the public and working with elected officials to ensure that taxpayer dollars are properly spent.”

Hutchinson did steer a portion of GIF money – $3 million – for one-time additional funding for pre-K education, a source of contention for Democrats. A long-term funding stream will have to be developed to increase that funding and maintain the increase.

In a statement Monday, Hutchinson said the budget meets priorities as well as cuts spending.

“I released my balanced budget proposal in January. It reflected my priorities, including increased funding for K-12 education, Corrections and Medicaid, and stable funding for Higher Education. In addition, I proposed 1 percent cuts to most state agency budgets,” Hutchinson said. “The changes made in the Revenue Stabilization bill since my budget are necessary in order to balance other policy changes from the session, including increased funding for pre-K. I worked with legislative leadership to determine which changes would be made in the final budget.”