The 2008 Surplus and Spending the Reserves
In our last post, we summarized the projections put forward in the 2008 budget, passed before fiscal year 2008 ended in June 2008.
If you recall (or look below), 2008 revenues were projected to total $8.633 billion. Actual revenues for 2008 totaled $8.664 billion, a $31 million increase over the earlier projection. After these greater revenues were adjusted for unexpected expenditures, fiscal year 2008 ended with a $23 million surplus (page 6 here).
Half of this surplus was added to the Budget Reserve Trust Fund, while the other half was added to other reserves actually spent immediately. Here is the last chart from the previous post adjusted for this surplus.
| Balances in reserve to carry into the next fiscal year | ||
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| $347 | $285 | $46 |
| (in millions) | ||
What this means, is that the biennial budget for fiscal years 2009-2010 began with a reserve of $347 million. Of this $347 million, $226 was dedicated to the Budget Reserve Trust Fund, $57 million was dedicated to other reserves, and $63 million was considered a part of resources available for appropriations.
Note here that the reserves decrease each year. After $63 million is spent in fiscal year 2009, another $239 million is budgeted to be spent in 2010. The state only has $57 million extra to spend. Any other increased spending will have to come from cutting somewhere else or unexpected evenues.
