Lawmakers set to battle with administration, each other over how to spend extra tax money

By John Rodgers, NashvilleCityPaper.com
May 08, 2006

The battle will likely begin this week between the Bredesen administration and the state Legislature on how best to spend the minimum $116 million of extra tax money in next year’s budget.

Most state lawmakers have different ideas, but the Bredesen administration, along with Sen. Douglas Henry (D-Nashville), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, will propose allotting the $116 million to the state’s rainy day fund to increase it to about the minimum amount required by law — $500 million.

“My thought is that we don’t usually get big, unanticipated revenues,” Henry said. “Before we spend them, I’d like to see if they will last.”

But some Republicans could move toward other priorities, like the state’s highway fund.

Both Republican gubernatorial front-runner Sen. Jim Bryson (R-Franklin) and Rep. Charles Sargent (R-Franklin) want the Department of Transportation’s highway fund money fully restored, which would encompass about $43 million in the next state budget.

“I don’t think we should put it all away when we are essentially robbing the transportation fund of $43 million,” Bryson said. “I think we need to restore the integrity of the transportation fund so that we can create jobs in Tennessee.”

Some want money for higher education

And some want more money for higher education, like the Senate Education Committee’s $28 million increase to Bredesen’s budget for state colleges and universities, which Bryson also supports.

State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said last week that they would look at the Senate Education Committee’s recommendation, but it’s “not necessarily an estimate that we’ve bought into.”

The extra tax revenues could range as high as $173 million, economists estimate.

Not including the rainy day fund, Gov. Bredesen wants the expected additional money used for education, state employee pay raises and health care, in that order, saying “those are my priorities.”

“We need to do something additional for state employees,” Bredesen said Friday. “We’ve got a long list of things in education I’d like to fund. We’ve got some things like Cover Tennessee and health care that I would like to make a part of this as well.”

And Bredesen will get the discussion started on an official level when his administration presents its annual budget amendment to the House and Senate Finance Committees, likely this week. Bredesen said he still wants to talk more with legislators about “what’s the most sensible use of the money.”

But since the state has the money now, some lawmakers think the extra tax money should be spent. Topping some lists is restoring highway funding that’s been transferred to the general fund in previous budgets. The highway fund receives a share of the state’s per gallon gas tax.

While Republicans like Bryson, Sargent and Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Mark Norris (R-Collierville) have been pushing for restoring the highway money, Goetz said last week that the administration was “not ruling out” restoring the road fund money.

Bryson: Use money to decrease food sales tax

Bryson had another idea for the extra money — decreasing the sales tax on food.

“That’s going to help everybody in the state, particularly those that are the poorest,” Bryson said.

On K-12 education, Sargent would like to see the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP) fully funded through an additional $3 to $4 million to help fast-growing school districts in areas like Williamson and Rutherford Counties.