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Show Host of State's Increased Spending Due to Educational Expenditures - . . . $ Utah has devoted a substantial part of its state expenditures toward to-ward capital improvements in recent re-cent years, the report points out. During: the past five years, the state has expended more than $70 million for capital outlay purposes. The report hits at the lack of effective review or control by either eith-er the legislature or the governor over most state expenditures. "Only slightly more than one third of all state expenditures in Utah result from appropriations by the state legislature," according to the foundation. The research agency's report warns of some difficulties that c?tinues. State expenditures there- fore exceeded current revenue by $6.1 million during the year. However, How-ever, the report, points out that most of this difference consists of commitments made in- previous years for school and institutional buildings that were not expended until the 1954 fiscal year. The foundation states that "the upward trend in Utah state government gov-ernment revenues and expenditures which began during the late 1930's and early 1940's, continued through the 1954 fiscal year. State revenues reve-nues in Utah have risen 30 since 1950 and 212 (more than three times) since 1940." This continual $increase in state revenue yields is attributed largely to an expansion in the state's economy rather than to changes in the tax rates. Foundation analysts point out, however, that Utah is "in a more favorable fiscal position than most of the other states in the nation in that it is one of the few states that have no net state general indebtedness." in-debtedness." More than three fourths of the other states had outstanding out-standing net general obligations totaling more than $4.1 billion at the close of fiscal 1953. This indebtedness in-debtedness in other states is equivalent equiv-alent to $26.26 per capita for the nation as a whole. Total state expenditures in Utah during the 1954 fiscal year were $96,048,286, it was reported this week by Utah Foundation, the private, pri-vate, non-profit tax research organization. or-ganization. According to the foundation study, stu-dy, Utah state expenditures increased in-creased $9.2 million over the preceding pre-ceding year. Approximately $6.8 million, or nearly three fourths of the total state expenditure increase was for added educational expenditures, expendi-tures, including building funds appropriated ap-propriated by the legislature in earlier years but not allotted until the 1954 fiscal year. Current state revenue in Utah from all sources during the 1954 fiscal year totaled $89,901,099, or 8'2 more than was received in the preceding year, the report con- may be encountered in meeting future fu-ture expenditure demands. The foundation report . indicates that the state will have to face fiscal problems relating to the mounting school enrollments, the hie-hwav needs, and possible increases in welfare requirements that may develop de-velop if any downturn were to develop de-velop in the general economy. The study suggests that "a possible pos-sible Offset to the anticipated rise in educational expenditures is the prospect of receiving additional revenues from Utah school lands." During the past ten years, mineral rental receipts from state-owned lands in Utah multiplied twenty times, reaching $677,641 in fiscal 1954. A law enacted by the last session of congress provides that Utah will receive title (and revenues) reve-nues) to all remaining surveyed school land sections promised under un-der the Statehood Enabling Act. Although Utah still has substantial substan-tial remaining fund balances in the state treasury, the research agency, discloses that for the most part their use is restricted by law for designated purposes related in many cases to the original sources of the funds. |