Utah's low per capita ranking is not bad, state officials say
Only Nevada ranked lower than the $6,162 per capita spent in Utah, according to the "Consolidated Federal Funds Report: 2006," released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
When it comes to total federal funds, California got the biggest share — 10.3 percent of the $2.45 trillion the federal government spent domestically in 2006. The spending marks a 7.5 percent boost nationwide over 2005.
Utah received $15.7 billion — less than 1 percent of the total.
States at the top end of the report's per capita spending received more than double the amount spent in Utah.
However, state economist Juliette Tennert said the reason for Utah's shortfall isn't necessarily the state not getting its fair share.
She points out that the top two states, Louisiana and Mississippi, received $16,263 and $14,516 per capita, respectively. Both of them, however, were recovering from Hurricane Katrina in 2006, and likely received large amounts of federal relief in its aftermath.
Another example was Alaska, which has a relatively small population that inflates the per capita amount.
"We don't have a lot of federal employees in Utah, and some of those government programs, relative to the rest of the nation," she said. "Utah doesn't have high participation in TANIF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), Medicare or Medicaid."
Nearly half of all domestic spending — $1.16 trillion — went to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, according to the census report. And some $739 billion went to retirement and disability.
Utah, which has long been the nation's youngest state, doesn't receive as much federal funding in those areas as some other states, Tennert said.
"We have a lot of kids relative to adults," she said. "We're very young ... Because of our unique population, even though we are low, we are getting our fair share."
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement that the per capita numbers are no surprise given Utah's demographics as "a young population with many children and young families, people who live healthy lifestyles and are self-reliant and a very vibrant economy."
Hatch suggested that a better measure would show Utah's federal funding in areas such as transportation, defense spending and government contracting.
"The FrontRunner, which will be opening this weekend, is a very good example of a large amount of federal funding coming to Utah for the betterment of our state," Hatch said.
There is at least one area, however, where Utah's rural counties have long been stressed, says John Nixon, director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.
The federal government owns two-thirds of Utah's land area, for which it pays back roughly $20 million in payments in lieu of taxes each year to counties, he said.
That's a situation that challenges county resources, given that the rural counties could make far more by developing and taxing the land, Nixon said. Additionally, some of those counties have high rates of tourism, and they are responsible for things such as rescues on the federal land.
"There has always been a very big gripe that the federal government doesn't give the state enough money," Nixon said. "It's a payment that is appreciated, but it's not as much as it should be."
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com
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