05-03-2006 2:57 PM — Upon learning today of an unexpected $116 million in new revenue that will be collected from sales tax revenue, Tennessee Finance and Administration Commissioner Dave Goetz stated that education, state employees, and health care will receive priority in budget considerations.
Goetz stated that both higher education and K-12 funding will have the highest priority. One area that will receive particular attention according to Goetz is urban school systems, but declined to say to what extent.
On state employees, Goetz included teachers in this area and spoke of possible salary increases.
When asked about health care, Goetz said that the adminstration was considering ways to cut down on premiums for indviduals in the high risk pool.
Goetz cautioned that the administration was still examining revenue figures and hope to have a budget ammendment sometime next week. He said that careful consideration was going into the drafting of the ammendment which will be based upon expected revenue growth of around 6 percent this fiscal year and 4 percent projected for the next fiscal year.
Kent Starwalt, executive director of the Tennessee Road Builders Association, told NashvillePost.com that he hoped the administration would look into restoring infrastructure funds as well.
"We would hope that as they evaluate priorities for additional revenue that they would take into consideration that our infrastructure system is underfunded," Starwalt said. "As part of looking at their priorities, I hope they will take into consideration safety and congestion. TDOT's ten and twenty-five year plans show a gap between identified needs and revenue."
instead of rushing out to figure out ways to spend the unexpected surpluses, why not roll back the tax increases that have been instrumental in creating these surpluses.
dodds@conmergence.com States:
Posted on 5/3/2006 5:09 pm
They could take another look at Tony Garr's film from June of 2005:
This chilling 29 minute documentary, "323,000," is about the 323,000 who are now losing their health care under TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid program. It is the culmination of a 6 month investigation into the largest health care cuts in the history of America. In the course of the investigation and filming, documents were discovered that definitely prove that the drastic nature of the cuts now are part of a bigger political strategy.
To understand the REAL issues with TennCare, the motives behind the cuts, the advocacy happening now, the people who will die from losing heart, anti-transplant rejection and other medications and those on respirators losing all their in-home care that keeps them alive, you MUST watch 323,000.
http://www.tenncare.org/323000.wmv
leeandterryfrank@comcast.net States:
Posted on 5/3/2006 5:24 pm
You would think Goetz and Bredesen were talking about the lottery instead of tax dollars.
How about returning the surplus to the folks that paid it?
sfwood@vistacmg.com States:
Posted on 5/3/2006 5:38 pm
It's amazing. The polititians just don't get it. I thought Bredesen might be different, but he's just as big a spender as the rest. The ink's not dry on the annouced surplus before the spending plans are announced, and the special interest groups are gathering for a feeding frenzy. As far as TennCrae, the cuts may be severe, but that's because the give away benefits above normal levels should never have been there in the first place. Another vote buying scheme gone bad!
tomwood States:
Posted on 5/3/2006 7:29 pm
I'm not even going to respond to the previous post. What can I say? I'm at a loss. It would be different if sfwood had posted this five days from now. Then I could at least offer the comeback he deserves: Happy 70th birthday, Dad.
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