Negotiators try to narrow Iowa spending gaps

State budget negotiators Wednesday were trying to narrow differences on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of government spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

An “apples-to-apples” comparison made by the Iowa Department of Management of fiscal 2014 spending plans offered by Gov. Terry Branstad, majority House Republicans and majority Senate Democrats indicated overall net appropriations ranging from nearly $6.74 billion up to $7.138 billion, but even those totals revealed an incomplete picture.

“The numbers aren't that far apart,” said Senate President Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, who indicated the first order of business is for legislators and the governor to decide what one-time funding needs can be taken from the state's ending balance before moving to the rest of the budget.

“We're trying to work through some of those issues now in the House and the Senate,” she said.

The side-by-side analysis released by David Roederer, director of the state Department of Management, showed Branstad's overall proposed spending from the state's general fund and other accounts in fiscal 2014 at nearly $6.74 billion, a 3.1 percent increase from this year's revised $6.538 billion level that included nearly $46 million in supplemental spending.

That total, however, provided no new money for K-12 schools pending passage of an education reform package, which created a $94.5 million difference with the House budget and $153.4 million with the Senate spending plan. The projected total House budget was pegged at $6.796 billion, a 3.6 percent increase, and nearly $7.138 billion for the Senate spending plan, a 7.6 percent increase over a revised fiscal 2013 budget that included $139 million in supplemental funding. The House supplemental to close out the current budget year totaled $65.5 million.

Roederer said the “big picture” totals took into account the general fund proposals from the governor, the House and the Senate, along with cigarette/tobacco transfer funds the House uses to finance Medicaid spending, infrastructure funding from state gaming profits and money from the technology reinvestment fund.

“I would say we're between $200 million and $300 million apart, depending on how you slice everything,” said Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I think it's useful to have it (the side-by-side comparisons) out there so people can see apples to apples. But the way that we structure the budget, that's up to the House and Senate to work out.”