It’s a great question: What to do with an extra $600 million in state revenue?
Our state officials already are lining up to chirp about how to spend those dollars.
In the 2015 session, Haslam, despite asking for departmental spending cuts, saw a surplus coming and filed a last-minute amendment to his budget that spent a big chunk. The largest item in the governor’s shopping list was $120 million for building a new state museum. Some Republican legislators grumbled, but in the end they went along with what was actually a good and needed expenditure.
This time? Given our legislators’ tendency to fight over surplus money more than budget cuts, some think Haslam may not win a similar go-along, get-along attitude from lawmakers.
Just within Haslam’s own administration, the Department of Environment and Conservation is asking for $125 million to repair long-neglected facilities at state parks while General Services Commissioner Robert Oglesby wants $529 million to begin an estimated $1.8 billion needed to patch up other state buildings. Several legislators, including House Speaker Beth Harwell, want to spend $280 million of the surplus on road projects – a move that could undercut Haslam’s hopes for increasing fuel taxes as a longer-term roads fix.