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Today House and Senate Democrats announced a practical and comprehensive joint budget solution that protects children and middle-class families from deep cuts to education and from high tax increases.
With the support of Democratic lawmakers, I’m pleased that our common-sense plan has gained more support among legislators than any proposal to date, and it meets Gov. Jan Brewer’s stated requirements in her “Five Point” outline.
House and Senate Democrats’ budget solution:
- Utilizes every federal stimulus dollar available to Arizona
- Implements smart, responsible cuts across state government, including reverting the balance in the House of Representatives’ slush fund to help address the budget deficit
- Restores necessary funding to education and social service programs that serve middle-class families and make our economy thrive
- Responsibly generates revenue, while holding cities, towns and counties harmless from loss of shared revenue and protecting middle-class families from a high tax increase
The plan also lays the foundation for a more stable revenue system to ensure a stronger Arizona future while protecting kids from deep cuts to education now.
The proposal restores some funding cuts made to the K-12 education system, community colleges and universities in the 2009 budget bill passed by Republican lawmakers and signed in to law by the Governor in January.
The proposal also ensures that education programs are funded in 2010. The plan includes funding for the 2% inflation increase for schools as mandated by the voter approved Proposition 301 and provides some funding for soft capital costs (such as books, computers and classroom supplies) and the skyrocketing cost of utilities.
Another major provision of the plan is the creation of a Rainy Day Fund Deposit for K-12 education. We were happy to add money to repay funding to the K-12 education system that was taken by the Republican Legislature and Governor in the form of a loan to the state (the so-called “roll-over” payment) on May 13. The money in this rainy day fund will be available to repay school districts.
Lastly, our plan implements tax reform changes that will help stabilize state revenues and protect school districts from funding cuts by decreasing the reliance of the K-12 education system on state general funds. The proposal increases the amount of property taxes that local property owners pay directly toward the cost of funding their local school district budgets. The plan will also lower the state sales tax rate from 5 percent to 3.4 percent and broaden the sales tax base to apply to all current items and services like spa treatments and maid services (food and medical goods and services will not be subject to the sales tax). This change will make state sales tax revenue (and thus the state budget) less volatile and subject to economic upswings and downturns and it will ensure that the average family pays lower sales taxes.
Our Democratic budget solution protects education funding and prepares kids for college and the work force to ensure our state’s future economic success. The joint House and Senate Democratic plan is forward thinking and lays the foundation for an adequate level of state funding to pave the way for a stronger Arizona.
To see the full plan, go to www.strongerarizona.com. And as always, please feel free to contact me at any time.
Sincerely,
Rep. Nancy Young Wright
Legislative District 26
Catalina, Catalina Foothills, Oro Valley, Marana, Saddlebrooke, Tortolita & Tucson
Arizona House of Representatives
1700 W. Washington Street, Room 329
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602-926-3398
1-800-352-8404
Tucson Office: 520-398-6000 And here is the rest of it.
