Idaho’s state agencies are asking for 6.4 percent more in general fund spending in 2020-2021 than they were budgeted this year.
The deadline for state agencies to turn in their budget requests was Friday, and overall, agencies are asking for $4.16 billion in general fund dollars, a $249 million increase over this year’s budget.
A financial report last month said Idaho’s estimated revenue in the current fiscal year would be $96 million less than expected, cutting the state’s surplus and prompting Governor Brad Little to ask state agencies to identify cuts to make to their base budgets and restrict supplemental spending requests for next year to emergency requests only.
The public school system, the biggest single piece of Idaho’s general fund, is asking for $2.73 billion, up 4.9 percent, with an emphasis on improving teacher compensation, enhancing student safety and well being, and creating innovative, individualized ways to help students.
The Department of Health and Welfare is asking for $3.73 billion, a 9 percent jump. While the department’s overall budget is greater than the schools’, a bigger percentage of it comes from federal dollars since the majority of it is for Medicaid, which is mostly federally funded. Some $411 million is sought to fund the first full year of Medicaid expansion.
The Idaho Department of Correction seeks a 19 percent increase to $326 million. The biggest factors are spending on placing inmates in county jails and out-of-state, and medical costs.
Those and other agency requests will be considered by Idaho lawmakers when they convene in January. (Post Register)
