Minner signs '03 budget
Lawmakers are praised for keeping growth to 3.9%
By PATRICK JACKSON
Dover Bureau reporter
06/26/2002
In a rare appearance on the House floor, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner on
Tuesday signed into law the state's $2.39 billion budget for fiscal
2003.
The budget is about $90.4 million, or 3.9 percent, more than the
current spending package. That's the smallest budget increase since
1994.
The package included cuts in administrative expenses to service
providers for the mentally ill and a $5 million cap on the crime victims'
compensation fund, sending the fund's $6.6 million balance to the
General Fund.
Minner praised lawmakers for holding firm to her fiscal program.
"We had to make tough choices this year," Minner said. "I know many
of you got lots of phone calls about parts of the budget and I want to
thank you for staying with me."
This marks the second year in a row lawmakers approved the budget
before June 30 - the last day of the current fiscal year.
The budget grew largely because $135 million was carried over from
the current budget. New revenue in the 2003 budget actually dropped
by about $152.5 million.
The package includes:
• $22.1 million for a 2 percent pay raise for state employees.
• $1.58 million to pay attorneys used when a conflict on interest exists
for public defenders - a $600,000 increase over last year.
• $50,000 to help the state police's minority recruiting program.
• $1.7 million to meet the state's share of operating expenses
approved by voters in referendums in the Delmar, Caesar Rodney and
Woodbridge school districts since the budget was proposed in January.
Education is the biggest chunk of the budget, taking about 33 cents
out of every dollar.
Sen. Colin Bonini, R-Dover South, cast the only vote against the
budget. Bonini regularly votes against the budget because it is
delivered with no time to study it.
This year, however, he said he did not support the budget because it
puts $12 million into the general fund that would have provided a
pension increase for state retirees.
Reach Patrick Jackson at 678-4274 or pjackson@delawareonline.com.
