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| Stimulus funds pump up Alabama budget |
| By montgomeryadvertiser.com |
| Published: 04/17/2009 |
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The state and national economies are in the dumps and state revenues are running far below last year, so Alabamians might expect that the proposed budget for state agencies for the coming fiscal year would be down drastically. But it won't be, thanks to the federal government. Like a baseball player pumped full of steroids, some parts of Alabama's General Fund budget for the coming fiscal year will be bloated by more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money. So despite huge decreases in state revenues going into the General Fund - which covers most non-education functions of state government - the proposed budget for the coming year that came out of a House committee this week is still 29 percent larger than this year's budget. With more than two-thirds of the legislative session complete, the Legislature is finally starting to deal with the state budgets. Adopting budgets for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 is the principal job of the Legislature. In normal years, the Legislature would be irresponsible to wait so late in the regular session to begin serious work on the budgets. But this year, so much depends upon federal stimulus dollars flowing to the states that lawmakers had to wait to see what federal dollars would be available and how those dollars could be used. The federal stimulus money will rescue both the state education and General Fund budgets, preventing many layoffs of public employees and helping to maintain essential public services. But the federal funds come with strings attached. The state is severely limited in how the money can be used. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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