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Nebraska state budget (2011-2012): Difference between revisions

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{{Archive budget timestamp|Year=2012}}{{tnr}}The state of [[Nebraska]] passed a biennial budget for FY 2011-2012 on May 11, 2011. The budget spent approximately $7 billion over the biennium and closed a budget gap that had been projected to be nearly $1 billion.<ref name=approvebudget>[http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9N5IITO0.htm ''Businessweek'', "Nebraska lawmakers approve state budget bills," May 11, 2011]</ref>
{{Archive budget timestamp|Year=2012}}{{tnr}}The state of [[Nebraska]] passed a biennial budget for FY 2011-2012 on May 11, 2011. The budget spent approximately $7 billion over the biennium and closed a budget gap that had been projected to be nearly $1 billion.<ref name=approvebudget>[http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9N5IITO0.htm ''Businessweek'', "Nebraska lawmakers approve state budget bills," May 11, 2011]</ref>
The passed budget did not raise taxes, but it did cut state agency budgets. It also rewrote the school funding formula, which saved $410 million over the biennium and left nearly $300 million in the state's cash reserves.<ref name=approvebudget/> A General Fund Appropriations Summary prepared by the state for the 2011‐2013 Biennium can be found [http://budget.ne.gov/das_budget/budget12/gfsummary0611.pdf here].
[[Governor of Nebraska|Governor]] [[Dave Heineman]] said he opposed dipping into the state's $325 million cash reserve fund to cover the budget gap.<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-03/neb-lawmakers-face-crippling-2-year-budget-crunch.html ''Bloomberg'', "Neb. lawmakers face crippling 2-year budget crunch," January 3, 2011]</ref> The governor supported a bill that would eliminate state aid to local governments, saving $44 million a year.<ref>[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703408604576164441153633876.html ''The Wall Street Journal'', "Budget Battles Roil Straitened States," February 25, 2011]</ref>
Lawmakers said they planned to close the budget gap without tax increases.<ref name=shrinks/> Options on the table included transferring $270 million from the state's cash reserve fund and holding total state spending growth to about 1.5 percent to two percent for the next two years.<ref name=shrinks>[https://web.archive.org/web/2/http://www.omaha.com/article/20101116/NEWS01/711179965/900 ''The Omaha World-Herald'', "State budget gap shrinks," November 16, 2010]</ref> The November spending estimates showed a growth increase of 7.6 percent, down from the 10.4 percent growth of prior estimates.<ref name=shrinks/> The growth in spending decreased due to lower school aid calculations and a new contract with the largest state employees union that called for a pay freeze the following year and two percent raises in 2012-2013.<ref name=shrinks/>


Federal funds accounted for approximately one-third of the state budget. The state expected about $2.6 billion in 2011.<ref name=impasse>[http://journalstar.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_c23c8a46-e8b0-5791-a2a5-c76fa77f9a49.html#ixzz1U5bAwU8z ''The Lincoln Journal Star'', "Federal impasse could cast uncertainty on state's economy," July 28, 2011]</ref>
Federal funds accounted for approximately one-third of the state budget. The state expected about $2.6 billion in 2011.<ref name=impasse>[http://journalstar.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_c23c8a46-e8b0-5791-a2a5-c76fa77f9a49.html#ixzz1U5bAwU8z ''The Lincoln Journal Star'', "Federal impasse could cast uncertainty on state's economy," July 28, 2011]</ref>
==Collective Bargaining and Public Employee Unions==
[[Nebraska State Senate|Senator]] [[John Nelson, Nebraska Legislator|John Nelson]] introduced [http://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=12809 LB664], which would have abolished the Commission on Industrial Relations and prohibited the state from engaging in collective bargaining, saving the state about $500,000 over two years.<ref>[http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/article_847f3268-155e-5a06-8fa1-54b39d73dd50.html ''The Journal Star'', "Heineman weighs in on CIR, collective bargaining issues," February 23, 2011]</ref>
==Budget Cuts==
Nebraska lawmakers were told that the fat had been cut and the next step was for legislative committees to identify possible cuts totaling 10 percent of state general-fund appropriations for all agencies under their purview.<ref name=fat>[https://web.archive.org/web/2/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100819/ap_on_bi_ge/ne_budget_woes ''Yahoo! News'', "Nebraska lawmakers told no more fat to cut," August 20, 2010]</ref> Nebraska Education Commissioner Roger Breed told the Legislature's [[Education Committee, Nebraska Legislature|Education Committee]] that cutting 10 percent would mean eliminating programs.<ref name=fat/> The [[Health and Human Services Committee, Nebraska Legislature|Health and Human Services Committee]] had to identify possible cuts of $235 million that could be made over the next two-year budget cycle.<ref name=eye>[http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HQLNHG2.htm ''Businessweek'', "Neb. lawmakers eye massive department for cuts," August 25, 2010]</ref> The Department of Health and Human Services oversees welfare and Medicaid, accounting for 35 percent of the state's general-fund budget, where as it used less than 31 percent of the state budget a decade ago.<ref name=eye/>


==Footnotes==
==Footnotes==

Latest revision as of 12:23, 8 August 2023

Note: This article was last updated in 2012. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances.

The state of Nebraska passed a biennial budget for FY 2011-2012 on May 11, 2011. The budget spent approximately $7 billion over the biennium and closed a budget gap that had been projected to be nearly $1 billion.[1]

Federal funds accounted for approximately one-third of the state budget. The state expected about $2.6 billion in 2011.[2]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Businessweek, "Nebraska lawmakers approve state budget bills," May 11, 2011
  2. ↑ The Lincoln Journal Star, "Federal impasse could cast uncertainty on state's economy," July 28, 2011
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