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Show UNDER THE CAPITOL DOBflE . I Moving into the final week of its 60-day session, the 29th Utah legislature stood its ground on a policy of more spending against Gov. J. Bracken Lee's plea for less spending. Increases in school taxes by about $2,000,000 sailed through both houses, only to meet a veto ve-to while an increase of more than $2,500,000 in welfare costs had approval of the Senate and was expected to meet little opposition op-position in the House. More aid to schools is included in a bill to provide $2,000,000 inemer-gency inemer-gency state aid to school districts dis-tricts unable to meet their current cur-rent building needs. On top of that, a record appropriations bill calling for expenditure of over $56,000,000 for the next biennium was headed for the governor's desk. This measure, as brought out of the joint appropriations ap-propriations committee last week, sets up a general fund appropriation of approximately $19,798,340, with $3,000,000 of the amount to be provided for in a transfer of emergency relief re-lief fund surpluses. This amount, the committee figured, would be available even ev-en after providing for record appropriations' ap-propriations' of $20,997,300. Agreement between Governor Lee and the Legislature may be found in regard to the welfare grant increases, but there is considerable difference of opinion opin-ion on the other issues. Welfare grant increases accepted ac-cepted by the Senate would raise grant maximums from $45 per month to $60 per month for single persons, $90 per month to $110 per month for two persons, $114 to $130 per month for three persons, $15 to $17 per month for each additional ad-ditional person and $175 to $200 per month in the maximum for a single family. Sen. Alonzo F. Hopkin (D-Woodruff), (D-Woodruff), who proposed the finally adopted figures, explained explain-ed that since the welfare commission com-mission is granted power to raise grants, a limited amount over the maximums on a cost of living basis the present maximums maxi-mums considered by the commission com-mission are $51 for a single person, $102 for two persons, $130 for three, $17 for each additional ad-ditional and $200 for a family. He added that the commission had held the most pressure was on the one and two-person cases and that consequently the main increases were made in these categories. What items in the appropriations appropri-ations bill will be , vetoed by the governor are not definite, but it is almost certain some of them face the axe. In the overall figure, the appropriations ap-propriations bill calls for some $7,000,000 more in expenditures than the $49,264,248 recommended recom-mended in the governor's budget bud-get message. The general fund appropriation is $5,000,000 over the governor's figure of $14,-894,746, $14,-894,746, and the emergency relief re-lief fund appropriation is almost $2,000,000 over Governor Lee's proposal. The governor undoubtedly will take the full amount of time allotted him before returning return-ing the appropriations bill, and few days of the session are expected ex-pected to then be remaining for override or sustaining action. One thing quite likely is an increased appropriation all the way around for institutions- of higher learning. The committee totaled the appropriations made to the institutions two years ago, then upped the figue 15 per cent to cover the cost increases, making mak-ing a total of approximately $10,400,000. This was allocated on a newly adopted classroom unit basic formula for the institutions ins-titutions and appropriations were made in lump sums. This leaves the governor no alternative. altern-ative. He must leave them alone or cut the schools off without any funds. The school measure was finally final-ly passed after the House had amended the bill as passed by the Senate, reducing the proposed pro-posed classroom unit increase by $2000. The bill originally would have upped the minimum classroom unit cost for uniform school fund purposes from $3300 1 to $3800, and the House set it back to $3600 before it was sent to the governor. Also cut back was an increase in the "leeway" tax school districts are permitted to levy over and above the minimum program. The bill had set a jump from six to eight mills, or from 30 to 40 per cent of the minimum program, but the House cut this back to seven mills or 35 per cent of the program. The governor had no quarrel with the "leeway" raises, but scored the classroom unit increase as . an aid to one group at expense of all. Along with its bill to provide emergency school building1 funds, the House passed a measure mea-sure to set up a survey of districts dis-tricts designed to provide for a fair and equitable distribution distribu-tion of the funds on a basis of need. They also passed a bill to increase bonding power of the school districts. Presently the district is permitted to bond up to four per cent of the present pre-sent tax valuation base of 40 per cent of fair and reasonable cash value. The new bill permits per-mits bonding up to four per cent of a full fair and reasonable reason-able cash value. In setting up the appropriations appropria-tions bill, the joint committee provided some vulnerable spots for the governor, including a $600,000 revolving construction fund for the Utah Water and Power board; an appropriation of $350,000 to the Salt Lake 'Area Vocational school and a fund of $289,000 for the Central Cen-tral Utah Vocational school. The governor had recommended a lump appropriation of $225,000 for both the latter institutions. Not likely to be touched, incidentally, in-cidentally, were livestock how allocations amounting to $39,-j $39,-j 620. They include: Ogden, $9600; Salt Lake City, $5500: Nephi, Ephraim, Richfield, Richmond, Emery, Cedar City and Vernal, each $2000; Spanish Fork, $2500; Plain City, $1500; Kam-as Kam-as and Moab, $500 each. The remaining $3520 went to poultry shows. |