Williams Said Next Step In Budget Work This Week

The Tennessee General Assembly taking the next step Monday to finish the state’s new fiscal year budget.

Representative Ryan Williams said requests to adjust the budget by House and Senate members were due at 2:00pm Monday. That includes any local, regional or statewide requests. Williams said Governor Bill Lee will take these requests into account and share the results later this week.

“(Lee) will present what’s called our administration amendment,” Williams said. “It’s kind of a way of truing up the state budget based upon legislative priorities or polices that the governor’s set forth and the members have set forth up until this date.”

Williams said work to determine how to spend, cut, and sew the state’s budget together will get underway after the governor’s administration amendment.

Williams said the state’s revenues are where legislators expected them to be and there have been no real surprises so far.

“We’re still coming out of COVID a little bit and then a little bit of a, for lack of better terms we call it a hangover from cutting the F&E tax last year,” Williams said.

Williams said the state cut its Franchise & Excise Tax last year because of constitutional requirements and issues with the way the tax was being collected. Williams said refunds for the tax cut cost the state some $1.25 billion and the tax cut itself decreased revenues by around $420 million.

“The overall budget this year is about the same as it was last year because the revenues are relatively flat still,” Williams said.