Complete text: State of the state address

Governor Olene S. Walker

January 22, 2004

Back to Basics for the Future

President Mansell, Speaker Stephens, Minority Leaders Dmitrich and Goodfellow, Senators and Representatives, Chief Justice Durham and Supreme Court Justices, Lt. Governor McKeachnie, distinguished guests and my fellow Utahns, it is my pleasure to greet you this evening.

My friends, it is truly an honor to serve as your governor. Thank you for the generous offerings of friendship and encouragement so many of you have given me. I reflect warmly on the years I sat in this Chamber as a legislator. I understand the process and the great obligation legislators have in passing laws and formulating a budget that will benefit the citizens of our great state.

As a state, we have weathered three years of tough economic times and have had to face challenging budget decisions. To this point, we have fared well. However, as we look toward the future, it is apparent we must ensure a strong foundation for the 21st century. I suggest we begin with the basics.

What are those basics? A conservative, realistic budget. Strong initiatives that focus on the basic needs of our citizens. And an innovative yet basic vision for tomorrow. Using these basics as building blocks, we will be offering a sound future for generations to come.

As I explained when I submitted my budget recommendations to the Legislature, I am committed to the following three priorities:

First, we must keep our Triple A bond rating. Why is this important? Simply because it not only saves the State of Utah, but also school districts, millions of dollars. To illustrate this, in June we issued $407 million in bonds and got the remarkable rate of 2.83 percent. At the same time California, because of its credit problems, issued bonds at a rate of 3.86 percent. Comparing the two rates, the savings to our state over the 15-year life of the bonds will be $39,333,900.87!

To preserve that rating, we must limit our bonding, add to our reserves and bring balance to our budget by ensuring that we have sufficient resources to meet our basic obligations.

Second, it is also important that we retain our state and education employees. Too often, after we invest in their training and development, we lose some of our most capable people. I keep hearing, "I would love to stay, but this county or that city is making me an offer I can't refuse." It has been two years since state employees have had a raise. We must find a way to give them a modest 2 percent salary increase.