Governor unveils $11.7 billion budget

The state's main education funding formula, the weighted pupil unit, would increase by 7 percent next year, under the governor's budget. In addition, he wants $26 million just to recruit and retain qualified teachers, on top of a 7 percent increase in salaries.

Huntsman also wants to start a new program aimed at getting more uninsured Utahns basic health care coverage. It starts at $30 million — specifics still to come — for a new plan to take effect in 2010.

Another initiative sought by Huntsman is $10.5 million to beef up state air quality programs — new monitoring programs to keep better track of the deteriorating air quality along the Wasatch Front, $5 million to increase energy efficiency of state buildings, and $2.4 million to buy new-generation hybrid vehicles for the state fleets.

The state had record-breaking revenues last year — more than $1.6 billion between one-time cash surpluses and increased new tax collections.

While this year is good, it's not like before. Huntsman's economists say the new budget, which starts next July, will have $1.1 billion in additional funds, ongoing tax revenue growth combined with one-time surpluses.

In tax revenue growth alone, the state will take in an additional $431 million, even though lawmakers have sliced taxes by more than $310 million over the past two years, including a $220 million reduction by the 2007 Legislature.

Huntsman's budget is a 3.2 percent increase, when federal funds are included — and a 3.6 percent hike in the two main state tax-funded areas, the education fund and the general fund.

Over those past two years, state spending has jumped by nearly one-third, leaving some conservative legislators shaking their heads, even as they voted for the budgets. The GOP-dominated 2008 Legislature will set the final budget before it adjourns its 45-day general session on March 5.

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Contributing: Tiffany Erickson, Wendy Leonard, Ben Winslow, Joe Bauman, Nicole Warburton, Deborah Bulkeley

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; lisa@desnews.com