Surplus up by $87 million
And it will likely grow; but no extra for Palace
State legislators and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. spent a record $650 million in new and one-time money during the 2005 Legislature, which ended just six weeks ago, and now the state has another $87.2 million in surplus funds.
And that $87.2 million extra will likely grow even more by the time the state's fiscal year ends June 30, lawmakers were told Wednesday.
"We've had some really good revenues, a very good year," Doug Macdonald, chief economist of the state Tax Commission, told the joint Revenue and Taxation Committee.
Even with the new funds, however, legislators decided not to allocate any of the "extra" cash for the Salt Palace Convention Center expansion — with leaders saying they won't count their chickens before they hatch.
Macdonald said the first three quarters of fiscal 2004-05 has seen hundreds of millions of dollars extra collected by the state, mostly in increased personal income taxes.
Much of that was spent by lawmakers during the 2005 Legislature, which adjourned March 2.
Tuesday and Wednesday of this week lawmakers were in special session to decide several items, including how to deal with the federal government's No Child Left Behind and a state contribution to the Salt Palace expansion.
In essence, the $87 million is "new money."
But House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said Republicans aren't willing now to give any of it to the Salt Palace.
"We spent like drunken sailors" during the 2005 Legislature, Curtis said. Legislators allocated a combined $650 million more over current budgets between one-time surpluses this year and greatly increased revenue estimates for fiscal 2006.
The state may well end the current fiscal year June 30 with $100 million unspent, but those monies will be looked at in the 2006 Legislature, Curtis said.
Some of the good economic news:
• Wages are up 8 percent, unemployment is down, reflecting an 11.4 percent increase in individual income tax take, $55.89 more than estimated.
• Corporate income tax is up 28.6 percent, bringing in $10 million more than anticipated.
• The per-gallon gasoline tax is down, but not as much as economists believed as gasoline prices have topped $2 a gallon.
Budget-estimators guessed the tax would drop by 2.1 percent; but it's down just 0.5 percent, bringing in $5 million more than anticipated.
• Finally, the high cost of oil means more local production, and Utah's oil and natural gas severance tax is up 44 percent more than estimated, bringing in $7.4 million extra.
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