Statewide Table of Contents

Foreword

The Utah Legislature's Compendium of Budget Information (COBI) is a reference document in which you will find detail on Utah state government activities. It includes program descriptions, references to statutory authority, performance measures, intent language, and, of course, budget data. COBI sets a baseline against which citizens and policymakers can evaluate budgets proposed during the 2012 General Session.

COBI is one part of a three-pronged approach to staff budget analysis. Parts two and three of the Legislature's budget analysis - Budget Briefs and Issue Briefs - will be available throughout the 2012 General Session beginning in January. Both are succinct, decision oriented papers that build on COBI, presenting future budget options rather than COBI's status quo. Budget Briefs follow the structure of state appropriations, documenting proposals for current year supplemental and future year budget action. Issue Briefs cut across 'silos' to discuss subjects that impact state appropriations independent of program structure.

Utah is unique in that all legislators serve on the Joint Appropriations Committee. That committee is divided into eight issue-oriented appropriations subcommittees. The subcommittees are:

• Business, Economic Development, and Labor;
• Executive Offices and Criminal Justice;
• Higher Education;
• Infrastructure and General Government;
• Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environmental Quality;
• Public Education;
• Retirement and Independent Entities;
• Social Services

COBI is organized around these subcommittees - plus the Executive Appropriations Committee (EAC). To drill-down into agency, line-item, and program budgets covered by a particular subcommittee or by EAC, you may follow committee links in the table below, or go to our Statewide Table of Contents.

The total size of Utah's budget is measured in many ways. The Legislature traditionally uses total appropriations (Table 1). Figures 1 and 2 below reflect total appropriations first by source of finance and then by area of spending. Detailed numbers behind these charts are included in the '2012 Approp' column of the budget tables herein.

When discussing the state budget, policymakers also frequently refer to appropriations from the General and Education Funds. They do so because, while the General and Education Funds make-up less than half of total appropriations, the revenue in these funds comes from sales and income taxes. Unlike other more restricted revenue sources, lawmakers have some discretion on how to spend the General and Education Funds. General and Education Fund appropriations by area of spending are shown in figure 3 below.

Another measure of Utah's budget reduces total appropriations by the amounts appropriated for fund and account deposits as well as enterprise/loan funds (Table 4). While fund and account deposits as well as enterprise/loan fund transactions must be authorized by the Legislature via appropriation, they may not result in direct government expenditure.

Transfers among and within agencies further complicate the "total budget" picture. Medicaid is the biggest and best example of this. The Department of Health is designated by federal regulation as Utah's single state agent for administering Medicaid. As such, the Department of Health collects and distributes all Medicaid funds. However, other state agencies implement some Medicaid programs. As agencies transfer Medicaid funds from one department to another, the expenditures are recorded in each agency's books, which can over-state expenditures when agencies are summed. These transactions are eliminated in Utah's annual financial statements, but in the past they have not been eliminated from budget numbers.

In an ongoing effort, the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst is attempting to identify and eliminate all interagency transfers from total appropriations. For the 2012 COBI, we have been able to identify and reconcile interagency transfers associated with Higher Education and Medicaid (Table 5). Remaining unreconciled transfers will be examined and isolated or eliminated in future reports.

In the tables below, we cross-walk the various approaches to "total budget" discussed previously.

• Table 1 shows total appropriations including fund and account deposits, enterprise/loan funds, and Medicaid transfers.
• Table 2 details the fund and account deposits included in total appropriations.
• Table 3 sets out enterprise and loan funds included in total appropriations.
• Table 4 shows appropriations net of the transactions in tables 2 and 3.
• Table 5 isolates Higher Education and Medicaid related transfers among agencies. Medicaid transfers from the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind and within the Department of Health weren't clearly tracked in prior years. Going forward this information will be tracked separately and reported.
• Table 6 reflects appropriations net of fund and account deposits, enterprise/loan funds, and reconciled transfers.

Utah State Budget Summary

Table 1 - Total Appropriations

Table 2 - Fund and Account Deposits Included in Total Appropriations

Table 3 - Enterprise/Loan Funds Included in Total Appropriations

Table 4 - Appropriations Net of Deposits and Enterprise/Loan Funds

Table 5 - Reconciled Transfers Included in Total Appropriations

Table 6 - Appropriations Net of Deposits, Enterprise/Loan Funds, and Medicaid Transfers