Joseph Coletti

James Lileks writes with more style and humor than just about anyone. He’s one of those writers other writers quote and say “I wish I had written that” —literally. He recently made more astute observations than I could about the lack of brio among car salesmen. Not that…

The Senate budget incorporates the surprisingly large revenues from the current fiscal year that ends June 30 and higher forecast revenue for FY2019-20, but appropriates no more for operating expenses than the House did (Figure 1). Senate budget writers devote $397 million the first year and $713 million the second…

Yesterday, the governor’s Office of State Budget and Management and the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division released their latest consensus forecast, which includes the truly surprising April tax collections. Earlier reports suggested the revenue could be as much as $700 million higher than originally forecast. The final estimate is…

The House increases spending faster than the pace since 2011, and prepares for more demands next fiscal year in education and Medicaid, but Gov. Cooper expects much slower spending growth than he has proposed in any of his first three budgets (3.0% vs 4.9% / 5.0% / 5.6%). Even with…

The Savings Reserve, the state’s rainy-day fund, would increase to $1.5 billion over the biennium under the House budget proposal, though it also leaves $600 million unspent that could be available in case of an urgent need. With the recently forecast $700 million surplus, the Senate could more…

One of the most confusing things about the House budget is the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund (SCIF). It makes comparing the House plan with the Governor’s plan or with spending in previous years, a challenge, but here is how the House and Cooper handle capital spending and…

You can read our Spotlight on the House Budget or, if you prefer tables and graphs, we have them below First, we compare appropriations and availability in the House budget with Gov. Cooper’s proposed budget. When we treat debt service similarly, we see the governor would have spent $600 million…

Tennessee is on the verge of seeking a block grant for Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health coverage for children and their parents and long-term care for the elderly, blind, and disabled. The block grant would allow Tennessee to tailor Medicaid to the needs of its people, but…