By the hair of their chinny-chin-chins, Utah legislators may be able to slip out of fiscal 2002-03 next week without having to deal with any more red ink on the state's financial ledger.
That may happen if, Gov. Mike Leavitt's budget director warns, they're willing to push money between some funds.
On Friday, the latest Utah State Tax Commission report on current state revenues and spending was released showing the government continues to bump along with about a $30 million tax shortfall in its two major funds. That's two months in a row that the $30 million shortfall number has held up, leading to some hope it won't grow any larger.
At a Wednesday special legislative session, legislators will probably have to approve transfers between the general and Uniform School Funds. If not, the school fund could end up $10 million in the red — not a good thing, says Lynne Ward, who oversees the state's $7.4 billion budget for Leavitt.
While some local officials like to bash Congress and the president, it was the federal government's willingness to send $20 billion to the states that brought $38 million a week ago into Utah's general fund, averting a possible budget shortfall when the state's fiscal year ends June 30.
Before that $38 million went into the general fund, the new TC23 revenue report shows, that fund, with June's tax receipts yet to come, was running about a $24 million shortfall. Thanks to Uncle Sam, Utah now has a $14 million surplus in that fund.
"We got a big help with that $38 million federal check," said Ward.
Even so, the school fund, fueled by personal and corporate income taxes, is running a $10 million shortfall, the new report shows. "The (Utah) constitution doesn't allow money (to automatically flow) between those two funds," explained Ward.
So while there may be a surplus in one, there's a deficit in the other. Legislators can fix that, and leaders say they'll consider it, along with other budget items, next week.
Meanwhile, the new commission report shows Utah is holding its own, in part because families and individuals didn't get as much back in income tax refunds this year as expected.
Commission chief economist Doug Macdonald said income tax refunds in May were down 44 percent from estimates. Withheld taxes — the money taken out of your paychecks by your employer — was 4.5 percent better than estimated.
But sales tax receipts were under estimates. And the cigarette tax, raised a year ago, was actually down 23 percent. Because of that tax hike, lawmakers had guessed the tobacco tax would have been up 35 percent, not down at all.
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