With falling state revenues and an economic
forecast that looks increasingly cloudy, Wyoming State Legislators have been
forced to make some tough decisions in recent weeks. In these times of declining
revenues, there seems to be two approaches we’ve seen this session. One is the
‘chicken little’ approach; the other is to bury one’s head in the sand like an
ostrich.
That false choice is for the birds.
As the branch of government that is charged
with appropriating public funds and setting fiscal policy, we simply cannot
afford to run around screaming, “the sky is falling” while boarding up the
windows and shutting down the state for business. Nor can we bury our heads in
the sand saying, “this is not happening.” The reality is, we must navigate
these uncertain economic waters with an approach that is somewhere in the
middle.
The budget presented by the Joint
Appropriations Committee, amended by the House and Senate, and currently being
reconciled by both bodies does just that.
There has been a great deal of rhetoric this session that the budget
prioritizes "projects over people.” These are the same arguments we heard ten
years ago when we saved our surplus and created the Hathaway Scholarship
program, quintupled our Permanent Mineral Trust Fund and established the Legislative Stabilization Reserve
Account (commonly referred to as the ‘Rainy Day’ fund).
The critics said then that we are stuffing
money in the mattress and not using it for people. Today, we hear much of the
same. However, this budget indeed prioritizes people, with increases for many
of Wyoming’s most important citizens. We increased funding for senior centers;
the disabled and developmental preschools, among others.
This is a unique budget session in that we
have a windfall of one-time revenues. The budget proposes using these one-time
monies to rebuild the facilities at our state mental hospital in Evanston and
the state training school in Lander. If
we are not going to use these one-time monies to rebuild these 80-year-old buildings,
when will we do it? Should we wait ten years from now, when they are 90 years
old?
As lawmakers, we have a constitutional duty
to care for Wyoming’s most vulnerable citizens. And the investment of these one-time
dollars in these facilities will last several generations. Our forefathers
built these facilities for us with an eye on the future. It’s now our turn.
Looking at jobs, in this budget, we only
displaced one current government job and a handful of contracts. What we did
cut were vacant positions. However, we also need to consider the jobs in the private
sector and those people. The people who will be laying the foundations,
installing the plumbing and electricity, and all the good jobs that will support
Wyoming working men, women and their families. These are people too.
The mission is not to continue the size of
government by continuing to fund vacant positions. To suggest that we use
one-time dollars to backfill vacant positions is not reality.
The false argument of ‘spend it all or save’
or ‘projects over people’ is the same tired argument and the people of Wyoming
recognize that.
We live in the best state in the United
States, and in the best country that God has ever created. While drafting the
state biennial budget, we continued to reflect and be thankful that we saved
some money during the good times. It is because of these savings that we are
able to have this gentle glide into a trimmer budget. And we did it by cutting
vacant positions, a few programs and implementing the Penny Plan.
Our most vulnerable citizens are well taken
care of; we have the best funded K-12 system in the country; we have great programs
for our kids; UW is one of the greatest institutions in the United States; and
our community colleges are funded 500% better than our neighbors. The citizens
of this state have done a great job and I think it reflects all around our
state.
Every town has new schools and new
facilities, our roads are in top shape, our services are great and our benefits
are fantastic. Furthermore, our 4.3% unemployment rate shows there are a lot of
people working in this state and we’re going to keep this state open for
business.
This budget is a long-term plan and it has
been in the works for a long time - for over ten years, since we started saving
for it. And thank goodness for that. It
makes us think of the old bumper sticker that says, “Lord just give me one more
boom. I promise not to waste it.” Thankfully, we haven’t.
JAC Co-Chair, Senator Tony Ross
JAC Co-Chair, Representative Steve Harshman
