NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The proposed Tennessee budget for the fiscal year 2025 may look more like a phone book, but the 500-page budget reads more like a road map, that gives turn-by-burn directions on where Governor Bill Lee wants to steer the state.
Due to flattening tax revenue, this year's proposed budget is much more bare-boned, especially when you consider two expensive requests made by the Governor.
"This is a more challenging budget than we’ve had in the last few years, and in many ways much less exciting," said Jim Bryson, Tennessee's Commissioner of Finance during a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday.
The first is a major overhaul of the Franchise and Excise tax.
"It would eliminate the property measure so the tax is much simpler," explained Bryson. "It would be assessed on the company’s net worth only."
As a part of the repeal, the state would also offer up a rebate (a partial refund to someone who has paid too much money for tax, rent, or a utility) on previous Franchise and Excise Taxes that local companies could apply for.
"Companies may request tax refunds for up to four previous years, therefore we estimate total refund requests to be approximately 1.2 billion dollars," he said.
The second is the Governor's school voucher expansion effort.
This would cost the state $144 million each year.
"We have funded the Education Freedom Scholarships for up to 20,000 students. Half of those, or 10,000 scholarships, are reserved for students 300 percent below the poverty line," said Bryson.
Still, a few notable funding measures were still included, like adding state troopers.
"This budget funding proposes an additional 60 positions to continue growing the force and its capabilities," said Bryson.
The budget also includes adding mental health support in public schools.
"This eight million dollars would hire another 114 behavioral health liaisons to work with our schools and our students across the state of Tennessee," he told senators.
Other measures include $207.3 million for various state park initiatives, including new parks at Hiwasse Scenic River, Ocoee River, Head of the Crow, Fort Southwest and Cardwell Mountain. $81 million would go towards rural healthcare initiatives. $20 million would be added to the $2 billion Rainy Day Fund. $10 million is allocated to expanding resources in children's hospitals.
It is notable what didn't make the proposed budget this year. There will not be a grocery sales tax holiday this year. In 2023, there was one that lasted three months. Also, a lot of people expected significant funding for mental health institutions. Instead, they only got about $15 million.
While the page count may be down on the budget, the architects behind it believe what they could fund will steer the state in the right direction.
"Because of the way we’ve managed the past three years, we do not need any wholesale budget cuts nor do we need to raid our reserves," explained Bryson.
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-Rebecca Schleicher
