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Show 'Statehouse Report Rampton Proposes 6.6 Percent Hike In Budget; Asks One Tax Raise By C. SHARP An "austere" budget of $527.11 million in proposed state expenditures during fiscal 1972 was presented by Gov. Calvin L. Rampton Ramp-ton in his budget message to the Legislature Jan. 15. This is 6.6 per cent or $32.9 million more than was appropriated for the current fiscal year. He said state fiscal officers of-ficers are anticipating "some depressed condition in the economy during the remainder of the current1 fiscal year". "But we anticipate a normal increase in the 1971-72 fiscal year, with-' out- the degree of inflation experienced over the past two " years," he said. Cuts Request With a few exceptions, the recommended appropriations appro-priations are substantially below departmental) requests, re-quests, he told. One tax increase calculated calcu-lated to yield $3.9 million is proposed. This is the same increase in the mine occupation (severance) tax he recommended recom-mended two years ago which was defeated in the regular session of the 1969 Legislature. Rampton proposes thai the first $50,000 production by metalliferous mines be tax exempt; that the tax 'be 1 per cent on the next $50 million; 2 per cent on the next $50 million and 3 per cent- on all -production exceeding $100.05 million. Affecjts Kennecott Kennecott Copper Corp, at this time is the only company which would be aiffected by the increase. The present mine occupation occupa-tion (severance) tax is 1 per cent of gross value of products of metalliferous mines and 2 per cent of .products of oil and gas wells. This proposed increase would offset a new method of allocating revenue for companies operating interstate inter-state under which Kenne. colit has substantially reduced re-duced its corporation franchise fran-chise tax payments to the state. Observers said it is "touch and go" wlhether the! governor and others seeking funds will be able to overcome stout resistance resist-ance to any tax increases. Those who oppose the-increase the-increase will have the unenviable un-enviable task of either finding find-ing an equivalent source of revenue or paring Ramp-ton's Ramp-ton's appropriations by $3.9 million. Unforseen Costs Rampton reported that a major unforseen expense during 1970 was for public welfare. "The increase in number of cases being handled grew by 11.5 per cent above the preceding year," load, he said. This was just over half the average increase nationally na-tionally of 20.2 per cent in the public welfare case load, he sail. With the approval of legislative leaders, welfare wel-fare grants were held at the current level and a deficit de-ficit of $709,000 in public assistance was carried over ov-er into the new fiscal year which started July 1, 1970. he told. Grants Cut Welfare grants were in-)c in-)c reaped last July 1 but were cut back to the previous pre-vious level as of Oct. 1. "I am recommending that this Legislature appropriate ap-propriate additional funds during the current fiscal year ... to restore these cuts by April 1," he said. Rampton proposed state expenditures of $145.61 million for public school education compared with 137.24 million for the current fiscal year. He recommended an increase in-crease of 10.6 per cent to $50 million for higher education. edu-cation. The Board of Higher High-er Education had recom-imenlcd recom-imenlcd $53.62 million. Saliary Increases He recommended that 5 per cent annual merit salary sal-ary increases be restored for state employees ( re--placing the current 2lA per cent increases allowed). allow-ed). He also proposed a gteneral salary scale increase in-crease of 5 per cent to make the level more competitive com-petitive with private industry. indus-try. The governor also proposed pro-posed salary increases for executives not under the regular salary scale as .recommended by the Executive Ex-ecutive Compensation Commission. Com-mission. This would require re-quire $221,400. He also recommended the salary increases for el-eVtiVe el-eVtiVe state officers proposed pro-posed by the commission. He excepted the proposed " hefty increase in the governor's gov-ernor's salary. "I could not tlake the guff that goes with it for .the extra sal ary," he told the Legislal ture. The chief executive supported sup-ported the full amounts requested by the Health Division Di-vision for water and air pollution work. "Although the increases recommended recommend-ed are substantial from a percentage viewpoint, they cons4itute only a small per cent of the entire budget," bud-get," he said. Building Program He proposed a $3.96 million 'building program to utilize the balance which he estimated would be available after filling the other recommended appropriations. ap-propriations. Principal projects would be the $3.1 million technology tech-nology building for the Utah Technical College at the new campus in Salt Lake City and $400,000 toward to-ward cost of a Health Division Di-vision laboratory building. A $360,000 central regional reg-ional mental health center in north Salt Lake County; $60,000 apiece to each of eight multi-county regions and $75,0C0 for the proposed propos-ed State Housing Development Develop-ment Agency also are recommended rec-ommended in the message. |