IS MISSOURI'S BUDGET CAREENING OUT OF CONTROL?

In Jefferson City, lawmakers return today after having enjoyed a week's respite from hectic legislative duties. Eight weeks remain before the May 13 adjournment will bring an end to the second session of the 87th General Assembly.

On March 10, immediately before adjourning for the spring break, the House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate Governor Mel Carnahan's Fiscal Year 1995 budget. At $11.8 billion, this budget is an all-time record level of spending for Missouri government.

For comparison, consider that a decade ago, Missouri's state budget was approximately $4 billion. It has roughly tripled in a decade. (Keep that figure in mind when you hear government spokesmen bemoaning "revenue-starved budgets.")

While we're adding up figures, it's worth noting that the above figures definitely do include the $310 million in higher taxes Gov. Carnahan succeeded in pushing through the legislature last year, during his first session. The FY 1995 figures do not include, however, the $50 million in higher local property taxes mandated by Senate Bill 380, Gov. Carnahan's tax plan for education.

Nor do they include a myriad of other fees -- many of them small, and for worthy causes -- that are proliferating in Jefferson City like springtime dandelions, or August crabgrass. Most alarming of all, that $11.8 billion figure does not include another whopper: $300 million in "required assessments" -- we'd call 'em taxes -- that are proposed in House Bill 1622, the governor's plan to enact a government takeover of Missouri's health care delivery system.

We wish that were the end of it, but such is not the case. Any doubts had to be swept away upon hearing the remarks of House Speaker Bob Griffin, D.-Cameron, in addressing the lower house on January 6. "My name is going to be more associated with bonds than is [Missouri U.S. Sen.] Kit Bond's," Griffin boasted, and not at all whimsically. Griffin was announcing his enthusiasm for plunging Missouri headlong into the business of issuing bonds to finance roads, prisons, higher education buildings -- all manner of state projects. This was followed by the governor's budget, which proposed $250 million in state general obligation bonds for corrections and higher education.

Since the Speaker mentioned Sen. Bond's name, in connection with issuing bonds, a little history is in order. In 1982, then Gov. Bond proposed a $600 million bond issue to build various projects across the state. Approximately $8 million of the $13 million-plus Show Me Center cost came from this state issue. Lots of communities across the state benefited, and we have enjoyed the Show Me Center since its opening in 1987. Overall, though, 12 years after they were proposed, Missouri has paid back only about $50 million of the $600 million; approximately $550 million remains to be paid in principal alone -- exclusive of interest. From this episode, as from others, it's clear the impulse to engage in borrowing is a bipartisan temptation.

Now, back to the current agenda of those enjoying power in Jefferson City. If we may be permitted a summary: $360 million in higher taxes for elementary and secondary education in 1993, to be added to last year's higher tobacco taxes for health care. This year, a proposed additional $300 million to remake Missouri's health care system and effect a government takeover of it, combined with higher taxes for urban mass transit. Rolling the dice on today's low interest rate climate, we're offered a whopping $250 million in proposed borrowing for all sorts of goodies. All this to be added to -- pick a number! -- $200 million, $500 million, even $1 billion in borrowing to build highways at a faster clip, borrowing power that the current Highway and Transportation Commission neither supported nor sought.

And don't forget: to all this, add the governor's and legislative leaders' support for unionizing state government and our schools -- a recipe for a loss of self-government, still higher taxes and an even faster explosion of costs. A recent Cato Institute study rated all state governors on their stewardship of finances, giving grades that ranged from A-F. Gov. Carnahan received a "D", as did a number of his peers from both parties. We hope that assessment is too harsh, that the reality is more charitable. But from here, it looks as though we're seeing a state budget that is beginning to careen out of control.

No wonder Congressman Mel Hancock meets with eager petition signers as he travels the state, seeking to limit the taxing and spending power of government.