By Senator Frank Antenori
Yesterday, the Arizona Senate, followed quickly by the House of Representatives, passed a fiscally responsible and balanced budget. Some might say “so what, that is what you guys are supposed to do.” Of course they would be correct, but a fiscally responsible and balanced budget has been a rare occurrence recently in Arizona. What also makes this unique is that we just didn’t take into consideration the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2013), but also FY 2014 and FY 2015.
Most Arizona families apply the common sense practice of financial planning by not only looking at the short term financial situation of their household, but also the long term financial situation. State government should, and now has, applied this concept as well.
The previous legislatures and governor made no such effort to plan for the future and take into account unforeseen emergencies, as a result, they left the state with a huge, $3 billion deficit. I have pledged to do all I can to see that will not happen again.
The budget passed yesterday has been dubbed the “Steady as she goes” budget, and for good reason.
Arizona is facing several financial cliffs that will have a significant impact on the state’s general fund. Some of those include the expiration of the one cent sales tax, Obama Care’s unfunded mandates which could amount to more than $210 million in FY 2015, several lawsuits that could impact the budget by upwards of $500 million and a still fragile economy at risk of reverting to a “double dip” recession.
So, here are some of the highlights of the budget.
The budget passed yesterday truly balances FY 2012, FY 2013 and even FY 2014. It puts $450 million back into the state’s “rainy day” fund, and starts paying down our debt with $142 million payment. The FY 2013 budget has a modest spending increase over 2012 of just $45 million, going from $8.527 billion in 2012 to $8.572 billion in 2014. We also adjusted some spending priorities, by putting additional funding into K-12 education and the university systems; more than $104 million.
Additional appropriations include additional funding for breast cancer treatment, child protective services, temporary aid to needy families, and a rate increase for providers of the developmentally disabled.
Going forward Arizona must continue to control its spending and foster financial stability in our budget.
This will go a long way to creating the conditions for business to come to Arizona and for those already here to expand. We have already seen significant job growth and a decline in unemployment as a result of the conservative fiscal policy changes made since 2009.