| Today's Feature
Joint
Lodging Tax Proposal.
The Tourism/Lodging Tax
Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday morning
at 7:30 a.m. in City Hall. The Committee was
appointed by the Mayor to find the most efficient
way to utilize approximately $130,000 in annual
Lodging Tax revenue.
A proposal is scheduled to be
discussed submitted jointly by the Chamber of
Commerce and Main Street Carthage. Committee
members have received a copy of the proposal in
advance of the meeting to allow consideration of
the document.
The proposal includes the
creation of a Convention and Visitors Bureau with
a board of directors to be appointed by the
Chamber and Main Street. The Board would consist
of two Main Street Board members, two Chamber
Board members, a representative of the local
Lodging/Hotel/Banquet industry, a representative
of the local attractions industry, and one
business/community member. Victorian Carthage and
Carthage Historic Preservation representatives
could be considered for appointment to the Board.
The CVB would then Contract
with the City for services rendered.
Administrative/operations fees start at $48,000
per year.
2002 Budget
Proposal.
by Steve Hunter
State Representative
District 127
On Wednesday, January 23, the
Governor delivered his annual State of the State
speech and presented a broad overview of his
proposed budget for the next fiscal year as
required by the State Constitution. After
reviewing the limited information in the
Governor’s budget summary contains, many of
us are stunned at his proposal. This proposal is
a shaky house of cards at best and a fiscally
irresponsible plan at worst.
For months the Governor has
insisted that his highest priority is to fully
fund the Foundation Formula that provides State
funding for Missouri’s public schools. The
Governor’s funding plan is betting on
spending money the State does not currently
receive. His plan assumes that the Legislature
will pass legislation to increase taxes on
riverboat gambling by two percent or an estimated
$31.5 million. The Governor is also betting on
passing legislation to increase the boarding fees
by one dollar to generate an estimated additional
$50 million. Although attempts have failed
repeatedly in prior years, the Governor is
betting that the $500 loss limit on riverboat
gambling will be repealed this year to generate
an additional estimated $75 million. The Governor
is also creating a new quick draw lottery game
which he is betting will generate an additional
estimated $20.8 million. If these proposals do
not pass the legislature this session, and there
is no guarantee that they will, the house of
cards will collapse.
The Governor has also proposed
raiding the State’s "Rainy Day"
fund to pay for existing, on-going State services
and programs in next year’s budget. The
Budget Reserve Fund was approved by voters on the
November, 2000 ballot and is commonly known as
the "Rainy Day" fund. The purpose of
this fund is to ensure that the State has a pot
of money to be used for emergencies such as the
floods of 1993, an earthquake, or a terrorist
attack, etc. The Governor is proposing taking
$135 million out of this fund to replace General
Revenue money he cut from transit funding, OATS
transportation, Amtrak, ports, alcohol and drug
abuse treatment services, healthcare services,
and social services. It requires a 2/3 vote of
both houses of the Legislature, not just a simple
majority, to appropriate money from this fund and
then the money must be paid back within three
years.
However, even if the
Legislature was supportive of this proposal - it
is unconstitutional. The Governor cannot use the
money in the "Rainy Day" fund for a future
fiscal year. The "Rainy Day" fund can
only be tapped during a fiscal year, like the
current one, where the governor has reduced State
department budgets below the level at which they
were originally authorized because tax revenues
collected are actually less than projected. The
"Rainy Day" fund revenues can be only
used to fund existing authorized
appropriations. The Governor wants to tap the
"Rainy Day" fund for a budget that does
not yet exist. Again, this proposal is
unconstitutional. Beyond that, I have a hard time
justifying raiding the "Rainy Day" fund
and spending $7.5 million on transit and $4.8
million on Amtrak. I do not consider these
emergencies.
For months we have all known
that we are in a recession and that the State
budget is tight and is going to get tighter. We
have been anticipating that the Governor was
going to propose a leaner State budget with deep
cuts in programs and spending to match the
reduced revenues. Instead the Governor chose to
gamble with our children’s education,
propose an unconstitutional partial solution,
future tax increases which will probably not be
enacted, and further delay the day of reckoning.
Last year, in the Governor’s 2001 budget
proposal it says, "His first commitment
after taking office was to put Missouri’s
fiscal house in order. The Governor has met this
challenge and presents a balanced Fiscal Year
2002 budget." The Governor’s budget
proposal this year does not say that anywhere
because this proposed budget is not balanced and
comes no where near putting Missouri’s
fiscal house in order.
The Governor has dealt
Missourians a losing hand - and he knows it.
As usual, I can be reached at
(573) 751-5458 or at Room 103 B-B, State Capitol,
Jefferson City, MO 65101, or by email at shunter@services.state.mo.us
if you have any questions or comments.
Commentary
Martin
"Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126
This week we heard Governor Bob
Holden’s State of the State address. There
were very few surprises. Most of the speech
centered on the budget situation in state
government. At first glance, it appears as though
this year’s budget may not be bigger than
last year’s budget. If this actually
happens, it will be almost unprecedented.
What is so strange about this
is that if the numbers hold, last year’s
budget will be $19.52 billion and this
year’s budget will be $19.16 billion.
Where else but in government is
a crisis declared when a budget stays virtually
the same?
When I finished serving my
first year in the House of Representatives back
in 1991, we passed a state budget of about $8
billion. At that time we had a little over 5
million people living here in Missouri. Now we
are on the verge of passing a budget of over $19
billion and we still have a little over 5 million
people living in Missouri.
I have always maintained the
only way to rein in the growth of government is
to cut off the money supply. Of course, I had
hoped we would be able to show enough courage and
restraint to be able to do it when we
weren’t in a time of economic slowdown.
Two proposals that were
mentioned deserve some very close scrutiny. One
is a proposal to take money out of the rainy day
fund to fund some programs. The rainy day fund
was set up to draw from in case of emergencies.
It has been used in the past to do things like
pay for damage caused by floods in 1993 and 1995.
That is what it is supposed to be used for. I
would have a real problem using it to pay for
what has amounted to nine years of over spending
and runaway government growth.
The other proposal is to issue
bonds against future tobacco revenues to pay for
programs.
First of all, the tobacco
settlement was always touted as being used to pay
state incurred expenses stemming from tobacco
use. Somewhere along the line, that went by the
wayside.
Also, if smoking decreases, the
amount of the settlement goes down. We could very
well end up having bonds issued, the money spent,
and an inadequate revenue stream to pay them off.
We are eventually going to have
to wake up and realize that all the giveaway
programs that were started and expanded in the
90’s are now coming due. Government
can’t, and shouldn’t, be everything to
everybody. We the people simply can’t afford
it.
As usual, I can be reached at
House Post Office, State Capitol, Jefferson City,
MO 65101, or 1-800-878-7126, or
mhohulin@services.state.mo.us for your questions,
comments, or advice.
|
