A Half-Million Dollars? Eureka!
by February 9, 2012 7:44 am 96 views
I have had a numbers of readers ask me this afternoon: how does someone suddenly find a half-million dollars in their departmental budget? And I tell them, I have no idea but sign me up! I could use the money.
If you missed what I am referring to, according to a press release from Gov. Beebe’s office it seems Speaker Robert Moore and his right-hand man, Rep. Bobby Pierce, suddenly found the answer to the financial woes of the Arkansas Forestry Commission. Due to their budgetary brilliance, magically $550,000 was found within the Arkansas Agriculture Department budget that they weren’t using and could be moved over to the AFC to keep the 15 forest fire fighters from being laid off.
No problem!
Now, I know you are supposed to never look a gift horse in the mouth. However, my question is: where did this half-million dollars suddenly come from? Was it sitting in some drawer in the capitol that Pierce happened upon? Was the Agricultural Department so over-funded that they could give up a half-million without blinking? Or is there some service or program at the Agricultural Department that was cut to provide the funds?
Here is the explanation they offered the Arkansas Democrat Gazette this morning…
Many agencies return unspent money to the state treasury at the end of each fiscal year.
After looking at the Agriculture Department’s record, it became “glaringly obvious” the $550,000 could be safely reallocated to restore some positions to the commission, Beebe said.
“You can’t use more than that and still be conservative and safe in your budgeting,” he said.
State Budget Administrator Brandon Sharp said the department has turned back $500,000 to $1 million each year since 2008.
The state currently has an estimated $72 million in cash surplus that could be used for other things, and Beebe proposes to use some of it to supplement funding for some agencies for the rest of this fiscal year.
I know it’s only a half-million, but a half-million here and a half-million there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.