Day 26 (Friday–the 13th).  Eliptical Trainer: 42:33 minutes, 4.23 miles, 666 calories.  333 crunches.  Weight 186.8 pounds.

UVU…has a nice ring to it!  Long gone are the days of the little trade tech by the highway. Now, UVSC sports over 24,000 full- and part-time students and is feverishly working toward “university status.”  Under the strategic scrutiny of President William “Bill” Sederburg, the school no longer wears its collegiate sweater of a small community school of days gone by; this educational megaplex is going somewhere—and fast.

A recent news article called attention to the fact that as enrollment is decreasing at a number of Utah State colleges and universities, including the State’s top two Research Universities (U of U & USU), UVSC is continuing to pick up the pace as its full-time student numbers escalate.  President Sederburg made the comment, “no longer are (college students) coming to this valley to have the BYU experience, they are coming here to have a Utah Valley experience.”  And, that experience would include full-time educational opportunities at one of the country’s fastest growing institutions of higher learning.

Today UVSC offers Bachelor’s Degrees in Accounting, Biology, Business Management, Chemistry, and Nursing…just to name a very few.  UVSC’s aggressive accumulation of Bachelor’s Degrees has set this dynamic institution on the flight path to supereducationdom, and beyond.  (Not really a word, I know.)

Fortunately, the state’s UCAT (Utah College of Applied Technology) programs, specifically MATC (Mountainland Applied Technology Center) in Utah County, are stepping up to fill a void created by UVSC’s upward mobility to universityhood.  (I know, I know.)

Three Important Facts

First, UVSC is Orem’s largest employer and the third largest employer in Utah County with more than 1300 faculty and 3540 part- and full-time staff.

Second, UVSC receives less funding per pupil than any other state college or university in Utah.

And, third, according to the 2005 Utah Foundation Report, UVSC bachelor degree graduates earn more money than graduates from any other Utah college or university.

No wonder why the State Board of Regents is anxious to move UVSC toward university status.  President Sederburg has a two-year implementation plan crafted and ready to go.  With support from the community and the state, this dream will become a reality, and soon.

UVSC graduates students well prepared for entrance into the job market to become a vital part of our economy (and responsible taxpayers, too).  Many students would prefer to stay on and obtain their post-graduate degrees, which aren’t currently available; however, with a little tweaking (and a small chunk of change from the Legislature) UVSC will become the Educational Jewel of Utah County.   – CAF, BS, ’94, BYU

Day 25. Elliptical Trainer: 41:00 minutes, 4.12 miles, 636 calories. 310 crunches. Weight: 186.4 pounds.

Day 24.  Elliptical Trainer:  40:00 minutes, 4.0 miles, 620 calories.  300 crunches.  Weight 186.6 pounds.

(Attribution ??) 

Day 23.  Elliptical Trainer:  40:00 minutes, 4.03 miles, 625 calories.  290 crunches.  Weight 187.6 pounds.

Day 22 (Monday). Elliptical Trainer: 41:22 minutes, 4.02 miles, 630 calories.  270 crunches.  Weight 188.0 pounds.  My wife made this absolutely incredible Chicken and Stuffing on Sunday–and, I paid for it with a couple pounds.

For when your troubles startn’ multiplyin’,

An’ they just might!

It’s easy to forget them without tryin’,

With just a pocketful of starlight!

Nothing like a catchy tune to make the blues just fade away…huh?!  This popular little jingle may make more sense when applied to fiscal responsibility than one might think.

BIGGER BUDGET SURPLUSES THAN EXPECTED–Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! 

It just keeps going up!  I mean the budget surplus.  Recently, projections were released from the Fiscal Analyst’s Office showing over $380,000,000 in “extra” money (last month I gave you this number and it was $364,020,000).

HISTORY 

In 1987, the Utah Legislature established the Rainy Day Fund to set aside monies for state fiscal and budgetary emergencies—when your troubles startn’ multiplyin’.  Since that time, the legislature has exercised its option to dip into the fund on a number of occasions to guarantee the state’s fiscal viability.  We’ve managed, during some very lean times, to maintain a AAA bond rating (only one of a handful of states) and to basically hold harmless our state employees’ wages, all the while the private sector was taking huge hits in the form of lay-offs, massive benefit cutbacks, and corporate restructuring.

FISCAL ANALYST EVALUATION 

Legislative Fiscal Analyst Office staffer, Jonathan Ball, wrote a nice piece in the last FISCAL HIGHLIGHTS (Vol. 2, Issue 5) on the topic of rainy day funds.  The topic question:  How Much Did We Sock Away for a Rainy Day?  The answer was very well articulated…if you have a PhD.  So, in an effort to explain Mr. Ball’s article on a more elementary level (like mine), I will attempt to translate by harvesting a few thoughts from his well-crafted article and mingle those thoughts with a brief, rudimentary explanation. 

State law requires the Division of Finance to automatically place 25% of year-end General Fund surpluses and 25% of year-end Uniform School Fund surpluses into the General Fund Budget Reserve Account and the Education Budget Reserve Account, respectively.

Our state law says that whenever taxpayers are taxed over what is required to fund state and local government administration and public and higher education costs, and there are monies remaining in these school and general fund accounts, 25% of each of those accounts are immediately transferred to state “surplus” accounts before we do anything else with those “extra” dollars.

Remember, 100% of Personal and Corporate Income Taxes fund public and higher education in the state.  So, when we have “extra” money “left over,” it’s because we’ve taken too much money out of your (and the corporate-job-creator’s) wallet.  And, because your money’s in our hands now, we’ll remove 25% of your hard-earned dollars before we give it back (in the form of a tax refund or tax cut).  Just consider it a handling fee.  Educators are always interested in “extra” money created by surpluses.  The transfer of the 25% of the “extra” dollars from your Personal and Corporate Income Taxes to the education surplus account is what contributes to school’s rainy day fund dollars.

State General Fund dollars are created primarily through State Sales Tax collections.  Two general components of the Sales Tax exist.  The first component is the state’s portion at approximately 4.25% of each dollar funds state administration and programs (now I’m speaking generally—the details would make your head spin).  A large portion of the other 2.25%, plus or minus, is money that comes back to local (city) governments to help fund their administrative needs (property taxes also contribute to local government’s budgets).  The total of 6.5%, plus or minus, is the additional money you pay in the form of a tax at the register when you purchase goods and some services.  When “extra” dollars are in the state’s General Fund Account, it’s primarily because we’ve charged you too high of a percent for sales tax on your purchases.  But, remember, because we have your money in our hands now, we’ll generously remove 25% of it.  Remember…the handling fee?!  We might give what’s left back through tax reform, like the 2% sales tax cut on non-prepared foods COMING YOUR WAY IN JANUARY OF 2007!…or we might spend it on roads, social entitlement programs, etc.  The transfer of 25% of the “extra” dollars from your Sales Tax collections is what contributes to the general fund rainy day account.

Have I lost you yet?  Good…hang in there!

STATE SPENDING LIMITATION–A Check On Government Growth 

There is another statute.  The state spending limitation statute.  This statute requires that whenever the combined total of the transfers of these two rainy day accounts reach 6% of the fiscal year’s General and School Fund appropriations (the total money we earmarked for the budget), a cap, or limit, is automatically applied.  The state spending limitations cap was adopted by the Legislature a couple years ago and placed on revenues and surpluses to guarantee that the state would not “overtax” the relatively naïve Utah taxpayer who, at times, overpays state taxes with their eyes closed and their wallets wide open.

So, what does this mean in relation to the two accounts previously discussed?  Because we’ve collected $380 million in additional monies (surpluses—not all of these are PIT/CIT and Sales Tax), with the state’s requirement to set aside 25% of Personal & Corporate Income Tax and State Sales Tax overages coupled with the statutory requirement not to exceed 6% in total transfers in these two accounts to their respective rainy day fund accounts, the amount that was actually transferred to the rainy day accounts was 20.7% ($78.5 million), not 25% ($94.8 million).  With current additional transfers of surplus dollars (including the 6% cap), the school rainy day fund stands at $123,000,000 and the general rainy day fund stands at $132,000,000 for a combined total of $255,000,000 rainy day surplus funds.  WOW!

OK…now what do we do with all the extra money?  $301.5 million as I calculate it.   The state spending cap statute tells us that we only have a few options for those surplus dollars…education, transportation, and tax cuts.  With a few minor “tweaks” to current statute (during the General Session 2007 or a 5^th Special Session 2006), according to Mr. Ball, we could transfer additional monies into the rainy day funds to beef up our reserves.  But is this prudent?  Or, is it more prudent to try to figure out how to give the over-taxed citizens of Utah additional tax relief.  Additional tax benefits to the taxpayer equals additional monetary infusions into the local economy, creating more jobs, creating more tax base, creating more personal income and corporate income tax, creating more money for public and higher education—all with responsible growth.  If more money is given to public education, is this a fiscally responsible approach to government growth?  Is this type of growth SUSTAINABLE?  Public Education funding grew by 12.8% in the last budget.  Giving the remaining surplus to Public Ed would increase their budget again by over 10% (I don’t have the exact figures).  At nearly 25% budgetary growth over a one year period (remember normal growth is approximately 5.5%), IS IT SUSTAINABLE?  What happens when the economy cycles?  Remember, we held state employees harmless during the last down economic down turn.  If they are held harmless and the general private sector employee and employer are not, what does that mean?  Who takes the hit?

IT’S TIME TO BE RESPONSIBLE 

These are serious questions.  They deserve thoughtful and serious consideration BEFORE THE MONEY GRAB BEGINS in few months. We must be prudent in our approach to growing government and our economy.

Despite the inevitable battle that will rage over spendable surplus dollars this year, we can rest assured that our state will remain relatively healthy through any minor economic hiccup in the near or distant future because we have caught a falling star (yours and my “extra” tax dollars) and put it in our pocket for a rainy day.

Rep. Craig Frank has received recognition by the Utah Taxpayers Association as a “Friend of the Utah Taxpayer 2006.”  Also, recognizing Rep. Frank’s efforts to strengthen the Utah economy was the Utah Business Coalition naming him as one of the state’s “Top 30 Business Friendly Legislators.”  Some coalition member companies (26 companies total) include: Altria, EnergySolutions, Johnson and Johnson, Kennecott, Merit Medical, Micron, Utah Home Builders Association, Utah Trucking Association.

Also, endorsing Rep. Frank in the November 2006 elections are the NRA (National Rifle Association–Political Victory Fund) and the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business).

Rep. Frank continues to promote and fulfill his campaign promise of working hard for good jobs and a stable and growth-oriented state economy.

Day 20.  Off.

Day 21.  Off.