Quick Overview of Perdue’s Budget

At a press conference this morning, Gov. Perdue unveiled her budget plan for the coming FY 2010-11 fiscal year, which begins on July 1. The budget plan is actually a listing of recommended adjustments to the second year of the biennial budget passed last summer.

A quick rundown of some of the major items:

• Revenue expectations for the coming year have been revised down by $703 million
• The Gov. proposes $16 million in targeted tax credits to “small businesses” (someone asked how the state defines small businesses, and nobody from the state budget office was sure if small businesses were defined the same for the different credits). The credits include;
  • Credits for equipment purchases
  • Extension of the qualified business venture credit, and raising the eligibility cap
  • A $250 credit for each employee receiving health insurance coverage from the employer
• A number of expansions of the current menu of “economic development” expenditures, and including a new handout to small businesses that hire new workers that have been unemployed for an extended period of time

Total spending is projected to be $19.15 billion, but when adding in federal recovery spending the total rises to $20.9 billion ($578 M added to the already plugged-in $1.1 billion from last year’s biennial budget). Compare that to actual spending in 2008-09 of  $19.65 (the jury is still out on the current year actual spending, depending on revenues).

Easily the best question aimed at Perdue during the press conference was when a reporter referenced the nearly $1 billion in cuts contained in her recommendations, and asked why these cuts couldn’t have been made to last year’s budget in order to avoid the billion dollar tax hike. The Governor, naturally, evaded the question and essentially said the tax increases were the right thing to do.

Be sure to check the Civitas Website in the coming days for a more detailed analysis of the Governor’s recommended budget.

UPDATE: Post has been update to reflect federal stimulus funding already built in for this year when they passed last year’s biennial budget. That amounts to roughly another $1.1 billion in actual spending. (HT: Joe Coletti)