Governor Tim Pawlenty has made the final adjustments to his 2010-11 Supplemental Budget, based on the state’s most recent economic forecast. There are no big changes.
Each year, after the February forecast, the administration submits two kinds of changes to their budget proposal.
- Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) re-prices certain proposals where the February Forecast provides more current information. For instance, the state has new caseload estimates to update health and human services estimates, and it has new estimates on K-12 pupils and can update projected education spending. Most of the changes are in this first category.
- The Governor makes changes to respond to the updated deficit/surplus figure, so that his budget proposal is still in balance (if needed). The state’s FY 2010-11 budget deficit dropped from $1.2 billion to $1 billion in the February forecast. Despite the improved financial position, the Governor did not take any proposed cuts off the table. He recommends putting the additional $209 million into the state’s overworked cash flow account.
Many of the budget changes are relatively small. For instance, the Governor’s original Supplemental Budget recommended cutting local government aids $250 million. After the update, that cut was reduced $151,000 to $249,849,000.
Examples of budget changes include the following:
- The estimated amount of general fund savings the state could get from an extension of an increased federal matching rate for Medicaid state is now $408 million. That’s $21 million more than initially forecast (and this funding is still anticipatory, Congress has not approved the extension yet).
- The General Fund will transfer $12 million less to the Health Care Access Fund in FY 2011 ($99 million instead of $111 million).
- The education savings projected from making permanent the property tax recognition shift, part of the Governor’s unallotment, was reduced $2.6 million.
- A new proposal exempts school districts with operating deficits from the state’s school aid payment shift. It has no costs this biennium, but will cost the state an estimated $3.8 million in FY 2012.
- The state will get $1.3 million less savings from the Governor’s proposal to cut chemical dependency treatment provider rates five percent.
To MMB’s credit, staff made it easier for readers to identify changes. On the online budget pages, it has highlighted changes in yellow and purple. (Note: The color isn’t important. MMB made the revisions in stages. The yellow was used for the first round of changes and the purple was used for the second round.)
-Scott Russell
