State budget writers and Governor Craig Benson will meet again this morning to take up the state budget. Late last month, all agreed they were close to reaching a compromise. But as New Hampshire Public Radio’s Josh Rogers reports the numbers might not add up.
At the end of the last budget negotiations……GOP leaders were upbeat…..They had a list of proposed savings that would meet Governor Benson’s goal of adding fifty million dollars to the state rainy day fund .….And that republican lawmakers could live with. Deputy house speaker Mike Whalley said the next step would be to run the numbers.
“I think between now and August 7th we will be able to get the evidence that we need, and determine if this list is realistic…”
But since then, there’ little sign that anyone has pulled out their calculator. Senate finance committee chairman Dick Green says despite assurances, neither the governor, nor his budget team have provided lawmakers with solid information.
“We are looking for specifics …..As soon as we see those we will be very happy to give them consideration but…..I don’t think we can operate from just a verbal presentation.”
And some of the exact numbers could matter……For example, both the governor and GOP budget writers want the federal government to pay for state educational testing…..Education commissioner Nick Donohue says that would run afoul of the federal no child left behind act……..He says that could cost the state millions of dollars in federal aid.
“Without assessment dollars we are out of compliance immediately and that puts at risk 64 million dollars worth of No child left behind money…..and they are serious about the consequences related to this…… They already applied measures to some other state for lesser infractions.”
Donohue says the alternative is to pay for testing at the expense of special education and school building aid.……But Republican lawmakers have vowed to protect those programs.
Other pieces of the compromise plan are also in doubt.…….Lawmakers had hoped to save 14 million dollars from a preferred drug plan……It now looks as if they can only save half that amount.……The Governor, meanwhile, planned on raising seven million dollars from a new state liquor store……But that number was for a full two years, and not single brick has been laid for the new building…… Benson policy advisor Keith Herman agrees the financial analysis promised two weeks ago hasn’t happened. Herman’s says the governor’s office has instead focused on the wording of such proposals as means testing for nursing home residents.
“We’ve provided the legislature with language to deal with the means testing language…..We’ve given them the language and I don’t know what they’ve done with the language.”
And precise language……not precise numbers might be the keystone to brokering a final compromise……That’s because its possible to write a budget that separates spending from proposed savings……In this way the spending takes place regardless of whether the savings materialize. Senator Dick Green explains how that might apply to Benson’s proposal to save 5 million dollars in the department of environmental services budget.
“You can give them an authorization to replace state money with other funds if they become real…..If they don’t become real, we are not willing to reduce the DES budget by 5 million dollars and hope and pray that it works out.”
To those familiar with the ways of Concord……This approach might offer kind of flexibility that both sides need to save face. Doug Hall is with the NH center for public policy studies……..
“Politically perhaps they can both say here is some smoke a mirrors ways that we may be able to balance this…..You governor then can say you have got the balanced budget under the conditions you have stated you wanted it……And we still have the bottom line expenditure in the budget that we say we wanted……So I think that’s probably what’s happening right now…”
Lawmakers and governor will take up the budget later today……
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