Budget subcommittees in both the House and Senate were hard at work last week wrapping up much of the initial work on their respective appropriation responses to the Governor’s FY17-18 proposed budget.

Responding to requests for additional funding from the League and other local government groups, the House General Government subcommittee sent House Bill 4232 to the full House Appropriations committee recommending a $12.4 million increase to the statutory revenue sharing (CVTRS) line item.  For communities currently receiving a CVTRS payment, these additional dollars would be distributed on a per capita basis, equating to an additional $1.62396 per person.  If adopted as part of the final budget framework, this would be the first statutory revenue sharing increase in three years and a welcome increase in light of last year’s overall revenue sharing cut as sales tax revenue driving Constitutional payments fell below the previous year.

The League also had the opportunity to testify before the Senate General Government subcommittee, making a similar case for increased funding for revenue sharing.  While the Senate subcommittee has yet to complete their proposal, public comments from members of the subcommittee seem to indicate an interest in looking at options for a funding increase to this line.

Once subcommittee work is completed following the spring break, the full Appropriations committees in each chamber will begin their consideration of the various budget recommendations, followed by consideration from the full House and Senate, all before the mid-May consensus revenue estimating conference.  Final budget action is on track for completion in early June.

Please contact your State Representative and Senator and urge them to support an increase to statutory revenue sharing.

Chris Hackbarth is the League’s director of state & federal affairs. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 and [email protected].