Utah's budget looks red and black — with a partisan tint

The state of Utah could be ending its fiscal year in two weeks with a $70 million surplus — or $100 million in the red.

We'll get back to you in August on the exact number.

That's what legislative leaders were quietly told this week.

After the Utah Tax Commission decided to no longer reflect estimated tax revenue surplus or shortfalls as part of its monthly TC23 report on tax collections, the Legislature and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s budget office decided to put out "rough" estimates of how the state was doing tax-collection-wise and spendingwise in the early summer and late fall.

The idea was that a group of state economists would examine tax collections and give legislators a broad range in how the state was doing in cash flow in, versus spending out. Kind of a nice thing to know if you are running a business or a government.

June 30 is the end of the fiscal year. So, usually, legislative leaders get some kind of budget/spending report in their June interim study committee meetings. And the Executive Appropriations Committee, made up of leaders of both political parties from both houses, on Tuesday was given a letter detailing the latest revenue updates. But the letter was not discussed in that committee and was not on the agenda.

Instead, Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, wrote a summary about the broad estimates on the Senate Republicans' blog site. It is not an official state site, but the Senate Republicans' "unofficial" partisan site, as the site itself defines itself.

Citizens can read about whether the state is in the black $70 million or in the red by $100 million on Hillyard's blog at www.senatesite.com/blog/.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said it is not really important how such information is released — in an open legislative meeting or on an official state Web site — but rather that it was made public, in this case through a blog on the Senate Republicans' site.

Valentine said there is nothing suspicious going on and no one really thought to mention the letter during the Executive Appropriations Committee meeting. And it was nice that Hillyard decided to blog about it and make it public, he added.

But House Minority Leader Brad King, D-Price — who got the letter in a pre-committee briefing by the Legislature's budget staff — said, "I much prefer that this information be released in a more official way, on an official state site or meeting — in a less partisan manner."