As the state faces budget cuts, Tennessee taxpayers burden has doubled in two decades

Taking population growth — and inflation — into account, the cost of state government to taxpayers has almost doubled in two decades, with each resident’s share of the budget climbing from $2,563 per year in 1988 to $4,513 today.

As Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen struggles to find a way to balance the state budget, the Tennessean reports that state spending has nearly doubled, even after adjusting for population growth and inflation, in the past 20 years. What the story lacks is an explanation. Where is the extra money going?
The Tennessean: Tennessee prepares payroll cuts

 

 

 

Don Anderson, a Gallatin accountant who watches state budgeting, said that the state has not been a good financial steward and that the problem is too much spending in good times and bad.

“While they’re preaching about everybody belt-tightening, they’re not practicing what they preach,” he said.

The 1991-92 budget, for example, was $9.6 billion, or $14.8 billion if adjusted for inflation. That means, measured in 2008 dollars, the state was spending nearly half as much as it does today to pave roads, run prisons, pay for schools and provide health care for the poor and disabled.

At the end of the 1999 budget year, the state budget was $15.5 billion, or slightly less than $20 billion in 2008 dollars. By the time the state closed its books on the 2008 budget year, which ended June 30, it had spent about $27.5 billion.

 

 

 

TENN. PAYROLL BALLOONS
The number of of state jobs stayed around 42,000 from the late
1980s through the late 1990s but began steadily rising in 2002.
                                           Inflation adjusted
Fiscal year Total payroll          in 2008 dollars   Employees
1987-88     $971,780,600     $1,768,616,048     42,120
1988-89     $1,033,024,000   $1,793,654,567    43,178
1989-90     $1,097,995,400   $1,808,735,299    42,783
1990-91     $1,129,518,900    $1,785,527,223   42,459
1991-92     $1,120,374,000    $1,719,314,920   41,593
1992-93     $1,178,417,700    $1,755,826,063   42,458
1993-94     $1,264,706,100    $1,837,348,296   43,913
1994-95     $1,371,735,500    $1,937,918,428   43,908
1995-96     $1,381,170,800    $1,895,285,002   44,141
1996-97     $1,428,670,700    $1,916,492,758   43,486
1997-98     $1,422,744,900    $1,879,271,443   43,300
1998-99     $1,531,868,300    $1,979,686,918   43,955
1999-2000  $1,566,379,200    $1,958,456,103   44,178
2000-01      $1,688,497,000    $2,052,729,924   45,251
2001-02      $1,784,760,500    $2,135,988,271   45,876
2002-03     $1,901,178,100     $2,224,616,024   46,111
2003-04     $1,977,746,200     $2,254,180,466   46,735
2004-05     $2,222,316,900     $2,449,930,853   48,980
2005-06     $2,349,393,400     $2,509,084,560   50,359
2006-07     $2,604,140,800     $2,704,128,091   50,559
2007-08     $2,963,898,748     $2,963,898,748   50,859

SOURCE: State of Tennessee

The state’s payroll is one area that has grown in recent years. From the late 1980s through the late 1990s, the number of state jobs stayed essentially static at roughly 42,000, rising and falling slightly in that time. The number of state positions began steadily rising in 2002, from about 45,900 that year to about 50,900 at the end of 2008, though not all of the available jobs were filled. Those numbers do not include higher education employees.

State workers’ pay also increased. The state’s total payroll in 2002 was $1.9 billion, or $2.2 billion if adjusted for inflation. At the end of 2008, the total payroll was almost $3 billion.