|
Web posted
Almost half of that, or $4.123 billion, will be funded by state general fund revenues, and is about $1 billion more than the current year. The FY 2006 appropriation of general funds, for the current FY 2006 budget, was $3.246 billion.
The rest of the budget is paid for from federal funds and a variety of other revenues to state entities, such as fees paid by airlines at state-owned airports and tuition paid by University of Alaska students. Fiscal 2006 ends June 30, and FY 2007 begins July 1.
At the current levels of North Slope production it will take crude oil prices of about $60 per barrel to pay for general fund budgets at the FY 2007 level, according to David Teal, director of the Division of Legislative Finance.
The figures do not include earnings of the Alaska Permanent Fund, which is estimated at $1.48 billion in FY 2007, or an estimated $795 million in fund earnings deposited to the principle to offset inflation, or $692 million that will be set aside for citizen dividend payments.
Lawmakers didn't spend all the money they had at their disposal this spring, however. They set aside $1.4 billion of a FY 2006 surplus to support the state education budget for fiscal years 2007 and 2008, as well as a possible state investment in a natural gas pipeline, according to Steve Hildebrand, a budget analyst in OMB.
Out of the $1.4 billion surplus, $300 million set aside for the possible gas pipeline investment wasn't designated as such, but rather for general economic development purposes. If the gas pipeline moves ahead, the money could be used as a first installment on a state equity investment.
Also from the fiscal 2006 surplus, $565 million was appropriated for school funding in the FY 2007 budget year with an additional $300 million appropriated for fiscal 2008, the OMB analysis indicates.
Much of the federally funded portion of the budget is money for highway construction and the federal share of work on airports. There are also earmarked federal appropriations for specific projects, such as $93 million for the Knik Arm crossing project in Anchorage and $91 million for the Gravina Island bridge in Ketchikan
Another good portion is the federal share of state-managed health and social services programs, particularly Medicaid.
However, the state's portion of Medicaid spending is approximately a half-billion dollars a year and is increasing at a rate of about $100 million per year. About $137.4 million of new spending in the FY 2007 budget is for an increase in school funding, which be ongoing and will become part of the base budget, Hildebrand said.
Funding for rural Power Cost Equalization, the state subsidy paid to rural utilities, was set at $25.3 million, the full amount authorized for the program. Part of this is contingent on oil prices remaining at current levels, but it is the first time in years that the PCE program has been fully funded.
The Legislature also made a one-time appropriation of $182.7 million in the capital budget to the Power Cost Equalization Fund, an endowment-type fund. Its earnings help pay the annual PCE subsidies, in addition to annual appropriations of state general funds.
The PCE fund now has $186 million. With the additional $182.7 million appropriation, the fund will be large enough to sustain the PCE payments of about $25 million without future state general fund appropriations.
Some of the increases in the FY 2007 budgets were one-time appropriations, like the addition to the PCE endowment while other increases, like the additional school funding and Medicaid increases, will have to be sustained in future years.
Budgets for the state operating agencies increased relatively modestly. Agency budgets were set at $1.537 billion for FY 2006, an increase of $178 million over $1.359 billion appropriated for operating agencies in the current FY 2006.
Tim Bradner can be reached at tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.
|
