House Budget Plan Addresses Governor’s Top Budget Priorities
Budget Includes Tax Relief, Welfare and Education Reforms & Smaller State Workforce

Governor Donald L. Carcieri praised the Rhode Island House of Representatives today for their vote to approve a state budget for the coming fiscal year that addresses most of the priorities that he identified in February.

In particular, the House budget plan includes a number of initiatives that were first championed by the Governor, such as tax relief, welfare reform, Medicaid reform, state personnel reductions, increased investment in math and science education, and additional funding for home and community based care for Rhode Island seniors.

The Governor also noted that the FY 2007 budget that was approved today included a number of improvements over the spending plan approved by the House Finance Committee last Tuesday. For instance, the budget plan now includes money for the Governor’s math and science education initiatives and tax relief for Warwick to offset property taxes lost to T.F. Green Airport. These initiatives came after a week of intense discussions between House leadership, the Governor’s office and the House minority caucus.

“From the beginning of the budget debate in February, I have said that I want to be able to sign a responsible budget plan that addresses the concerns of average Rhode Islanders,” Governor Carcieri said. “At first glance, the budget passed by the House today appears to meet that goal.”

“At the beginning of the year, I laid out a specific set of budget priorities. In particular, I said that a responsible budget plan would enable us to grant tax relief to Rhode Island’s overtaxed citizens,” Carcieri continued. “To do that, I said we needed to reform our welfare system and reduce the size of the state workforce. I also said that we must make some important investments in Rhode Island’s future by increasing education quality and promoting job growth. While the House of Representatives didn’t go as far as I would have liked in every area, they appear to have met me more than halfway by addressing all those concerns.”

“The budget passed today would provide significant income tax and property tax relief to Rhode Island’s overtaxed citizens,” Carcieri said. “In particular, this budget will continue the phase-out of the car tax that I re-started last year and increase property tax reimbursements to Rhode Island seniors, while providing the first income tax relief in recent memory. It also includes my proposal to provide tax relief to the City of Warwick and to other communities that host airports. This will be the first budget in Rhode Island’s history that begins to reimburse Warwick residents for the significant costs associated with hosting T.F. Green Airport.”

“In order to make that tax relief possible, we needed to reform our welfare programs and to shrink the size of the state workforce,” Carcieri said. “I’m pleased that the House adopted a number of the welfare and Medicaid reform proposals I made in February. The entitlement reforms approved today will help prevent Rhode Island from becoming a magnet for people who hope to move here in order to collect welfare benefits. By agreeing with my plan to reduce the state workforce by over 400 positions, the House is also helping me achieve my goal of making state government more efficient for Rhode Island taxpayers.”

“As much as the state budget is a plan for taxing and spending, it is also a reflection of our priorities for the future,” the Governor said. “In an effort to create a bright future for Rhode Island’s children, I proposed a number of education reforms designed to increase the quality of instruction, particularly in math and science. The House’s decision to fund a number of my math and science reform initiatives – such as Physics First and professional development for teachers of math and science – is good news for Rhode Island children and for our state’s economic future.”

“Economic development and job growth is always a priority. That’s why I’m pleased that the House agreed to fund my Science and Technology Advisory Council, which will lead Rhode Island’s efforts to build an economy based on innovation,” Carcieri continued. “Additionally, their decision to invest another $1.5 million to fund innovation research will help Rhode Island build a 21st century economy.”

“The House also agreed to fund my proposal for innovation in health care technology,” Carcieri said. “In particular, this budget plan includes $20 million to create a health information exchange system, which will make Rhode Island a national model in the use of information technology to improve our health care system. This program is central to my 5-point health care reform agenda.”

“I’m also happy that the House agreed to fund an additional $470,000 in home and community based services for Rhode Island’s senior citizens,” Carcieri said. “Helping seniors stay at home is good for our community, and saves money in the long run.”

“Unfortunately, the House chose not to provide the school aid increases I proposed for Rhode Island’s suburban and rural schools,” the Governor said. “In crafting my budget plan, I attempted to provide each community with the funding they needed to pay for increased teacher retirement costs. This was a well-thought out plan that actually gave state aid based on each community’s spending needs. I’m disappointed that the House decided to reject that approach. Despite this, every community is receiving more aid than they have in the recent past. My willingness to propose the largest boost in local education aid in six years made this increase possible.”

“While the House budget plan is not perfect, it addresses all the major priorities that I outlined at the beginning of this year: tax relief, education spending, upgrading math & science education, welfare reform, and economic development,” Governor Carcieri concluded. “I look forward to seeing how this budget plan progresses through the Senate.”

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