Utah state budget (2012-2013)

Note: This article was last updated in 2013. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances.

Lawmakers approved the $12.81 billion Utah state budget on March 8, 2012. It increased spending from the prior year by approximately $440 million. State revenues were projected to increase by more than $360 million.

The budget did not raise taxes.

The total state debt would drop about $130 million under the plan. Still, the state had about $1,200 in debt for every state resident.

Highlights of the budget included:

• A one percent raise for state employees, including higher education employees, and lawmakers set aside money for school districts to give K-12 teachers one percent raises;
• $87 million more funds than fiscal year 2012 for Medicaid to address the increase of residents enrolling in the program; and
• $110 million in new funds for public education, including the $41 million the governor requested to cover an enrollment increase of 12,500 students.

Of the total budget funds, 27 percent came from the federal government.

Early in fiscal year 2013, officials spent $50 million fighting wildfires, $16 million of expenses paid for by the state. The budget allocated only $3 million for that expense.

Governor's proposed budget

On December 12, 2011, Gov. Gary Herbert released his proposed fiscal year 2013 budget of $12.9 billion. Highlights of the proposed budget included:

• $2.5 billion would go to K-12 public education with $111 million in new funding, including $41 million to help cover an enrollment increase of 12,500 students during the next school year; and
• $93 million more in higher education funding.

The budget spent $160 million more than fiscal year 2012 on Medicaid, with enrollment in the program expected to grow by 39,000 individuals.

A budget summary released by Herbert showed that state revenues were climbing to $5 billion from a low of $4.2 billion two years prior. The plan did not include any tax increases. The governor asked lawmakers to cut unemployment insurance tax rates for the state’s 85,000 employers, “and allow them to create more jobs and hire more people.”

Lawmakers were expected to discuss the governor's proposed budget when the legislative session opened on January 23, 2012.