John Burris: State Budget Changing Slowly And In A Good Way

Change is hard to see while it’s happening. I don’t know how my hairline got so high and thin. I just know I looked up one day, and there it was, retreated.

Let’s say the state budget is kind of like that: changing slowly. Except in a good way, unlike my situation. This is important to point out because conservatives, by nature, see things in black and white. They’re not incremental. They’re happy with this or that, but not usually something in between.

So sometimes good people can get discouraged by continually fighting the fight for things like a more efficient budget for the state. It’s a good time to discuss some old successes that might often go overlooked, since we’ll soon see a proposed balanced budget from the new administration.

One success I’ve talked about before. That is the evolution of General Improvement Funds, or GIF. These monies represent everything about the way Arkansas politics used to be, or at least the way Arkansas politicians used to view it.

I suppose it used to be a big deal to hand out oversized checks at the local festival and brag about (some of) the things you were doing in the capital city, all while actually doing very little of consequence. Think of the Mayor of Mayberry.

Some people feel important when they hand out things. I never did, because it felt silly. They knew it wasn’t my money, after all.

It’s all changed for the better. Today, GIF is fairly distributed and decreasing in size. Perhaps Governor Hutchinson can fully end the practice and use the money for better purposes. Even if small concessions are given, progress has been made.

In 2013, there was a largely partisan fight over a largely symbolic bill to place a 3% growth cap on state budget growth. It failed to become law, but that year our budget grew 1.9%. It will grow less than the 3% this year, below inflation.

That’s because conservatives – through tax cuts – have forced the government to collect less money. In the past two sessions, Arkansas has reduced the tax burden by an amount equivalent to nearly 5% of the state budget.

That’s in contrast to decades of year-after-year tax increases. Now we have year-after-year tax cuts. The number of state employees has also decreased, rather than grown.

Check the box, my conservative friend. These are real numbers to be proud of.

Controlling the state budget can be hard. There is no line item labeled “waste.” There’s not a section of the budget called “things we could live without.” Budget savings must be policy-driven, meaning we must reform our approach to big-ticket items.

Our new governor can make those policy changes, but it will be difficult. Those in the Capitol orbit will try greatly to convince him not to. Even those who say they want less government can often become their own worst enemy, criticizing the leader who is trying to get them where they want to go because they don’t realize the best way to get there. So they complain, rather than work.

It’s an age-old problem. Moses, in the desert, was just the first to write about it.

But in government, paradigms can shift. They don’t leap.

We are where we are because we slowly got here. We’ll get where we’re going at about the same speed. The goal should be to gently steer, not to paddle uncontrollably.

Those who have worked hard for a conservative outcome should be proud. We have turned the corner in many ways, with more achievable goals within reach.

When the governor releases his budget in the next few days, it won’t be perfect. I’ll probably text some friends complaining about certain things, with the implication being that it could have been done better. I won’t be wrong.

But I also won’t make the mistake of thinking that this budget – despite whatever flaws it may have – has not been gently steered in a more conservative direction.

I might have steered harder. You might have steered less.

We can be satisfied with where we’re heading, and grateful for those who have helped change the direction.

Not all change is bad. That’s why I own hats.