North Dakota’s Cut Of The Stimulus: $573 Million

The question is, what will the legislators do with it? I’d prefer that they just give it back, given that our state doesn’t need it, but that doesn’t seem likely to happen.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) North Dakota budget analysts say the state will be getting $573 million in federal stimulus money.
Now the Legislature has to decide what to do next. North Dakota House Appropriations Committee Chairman Ken Svedjan says it will be a tricky process.
Svedjan says a lot of budget work already has been done, and there are many questions about what the federal money can be used for.
The biggest chunks are for transportation and schools. North Dakota’s Department of Transportation is getting $114 million.
Cities and counties are splitting about $51 million for road and bridge projects.
The Department of Public Instruction is getting $151 million.
Most of the money is going back to local school districts. Almost $86 million will be available for schools to spend as they choose.

If most of our budgeting has been done already, that means that the legislature has already mostly decided how much will be appropriated where right? Which means that the state doesn’t really need this money, right?
So why spend it? If we spend it, even if it’s on the sort of stuff legislators like to claim is “one time spending,” we’re only going to increase the size government that must be supported by on-going tax revenues in the state once the “stimulus” bailout money dries up. Since this bailout is being foisted on us despite the fact that we don’t need it, why use it to create more government that we’ll have to support?
Those fighting for tax relief down in Bismarck this legislative session have had a tough time of it this legislative session (a pathetic reality given how dominated this state is by Republicans, but I digress), but if we’re getting over half a billion in federal money in the state is there really any excuse to fail to pass all the tax relief we can muster?
What I’m afraid of is that we’re going to see the same concerted opposition to tax relief even as this federal money creates more government in the state that must be supported by more tax revenues. What we seem to be doing, if we squander this federal money on more government spending, is increasing the on-going burden of government int he state by failing to leverage a time of budget surpluses for on-going tax relief.