Show Me the Money

True to transparency in government, this week Governor Brewer announced azrecovery.gov. This website is designed to track the State's portion of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) economic stimulus legislation adopted by Congress and signed by President Obama last month. The site includes guidelines from the federal government about how and when these dollars must be used.

On March 5, the Governor sent a letter to President Obama applying for Arizona's portion of the money. By applying, she is not obligated to accept all funding streams available; she can review each funding option to determine whether Arizona's current spending level will qualify according to the federal guidelines.

The City is also transparent about the pursuit of the federal stimulus dollars. At phoenix.gov/recovery, the variety of funding available to Phoenix is displayed. As mentioned in last week's message, while the state has the ability to use the stimulus dollars to backfill its budget shortfall, Phoenix instead must use stimulus dollars for specific projects or programs.

Getting Ready for FY10

This week, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) presented Budget Options by Agency to the Appropriations Committees as the Legislature prepares to address the current budget shortfall of about $475 million and the FY10 budget shortage of over $3 billion. The deficit is growing as revenues decline and spending continues at the current pace.

Shared Revenue

Last week the Legislature unsuccessfully tried to take shared revenues from cities and towns for the State's budget balancing purposes. On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee had scheduled an informational hearing about shared revenues, since there are many new legislators who may have questions about this important issue. Although the meeting was cancelled, the presentation is set again for the next Senate Finance Committee meeting -- 1:30 p.m. next Wednesday in Senate Hearing Room 3.

Remember to SHOP PHOENIX and tell your legislators to protect city revenues!

Source: P.L.A.N.