Budget bounty — Walker earmarks funds; lawmakers talking tax cuts

After four tough years, it's finally time for state officials to start singing "We're in the Money."

Lawmakers, however, might have a different tune in mind — tax cuts.

Friday afternoon, outgoing Gov. Olene Walker unveiled her recommended $8.6 billion spending plan for 2005-06 based on an encouraging 10.1 percent growth in tax revenue.

That's $370 million in new cash — without any tax increases.

It's enough money to pay for healthy increases in many budget areas, including a 5 percent boost in education spending and fully funding student growth. Plus there's more than $100 million that Walker wants to set aside for new state buildings.

"When those numbers first came in," Walker said after her press conference, "I told my staff to keep quiet about them; were they for real?"

But further reviews proved Utah's economy was indeed on the rebound.

Not everyone is ready to spend the extra cash. The new growth means general tax cuts must be part of the debate, said Senate President-elect John Valentine, R-Orem. That means lawmakers likely would look at sales, property, income and gasoline taxes.

"Should more money go to education and infrastructure, or some to tax cuts? That will be the key part" of the 2005 Legislature's budget discussions, Valentine said.

Such growth in tax collections hasn't been seen since the halcyon days of the mid-1990s.

At one point, legislators had half a billion in cash, between new revenue growth for the upcoming budget year and revenue surpluses left over from the current budget year. They ended up giving Utahns a $90 million property tax cut that year.

Recommendations only

By law, Walker had to give the 104-member, part-time Legislature a recommended budget a month before the next general session. But Walker, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for governor, leaves office in early January.

Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. issued a statement Friday, promising to issue his own budget sometime in January. The Republican called the revenue growth encouraging but warned, "We must use these resources wisely and not rush to spend."

Asked specifically about whether he would support tax cuts, Huntsman added, "Everything is on the table during this period of budget formation and it would be premature to pinpoint anything right now."

The governor-elect met privately with Valentine late Friday. During his campaign, Huntsman supported removing sales tax from food purchases and suggested there were millions of dollars in savings to be found in the state budget.

Incoming House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, said legislators should be careful about jumping at cutting taxes.