Tennessee remains $523.7 million short of the original budget for tax and fee collections through the first 10 months of the fiscal year.
The May numbers were $29.5 million short of the budgeted amount but $52.4 million head of May 2023.
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Tennessee has $144 million for education freedom scholarships that won’t be spent and will deposit an additional $100 million in the budget set to go into place for July 1.
Sycamore Institute, a non-partisan public policy research institute, recently published an analysis of what changed from Gov. Bill Lee’s initial proposed budget to the $52.8 billion budget that passed the Tennessee Legislature.
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Memphis will be receiving $350 million for its sports facilities in the $56.2 billion Tennessee budget passed by the Senate on Thursday.
The funds are part of $684 million in sports facility improvements planned for the city that include renovations to the FedExForum, home of the Memphis Grizzlies, along with renovations to Liberty Stadium, AutoZone Park and a new soccer stadium.
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Tennessee has now collected $1.5 billion than it budgeted in taxes and fees through the first nine months of the fiscal year.
The March total of $1.6 billion in collections were $174.5 million more than budgeted and $65.8 million above the 2022 numbers.
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Tennessee’s financial position is $7.4 billion better than it was the year before, according to the state’s recently released Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
And the state has a combined fund balance of $19.2 billion, up $5.4 billion from the year before. That leaves the state with $15.8 billion in spendable fund balance with $1.6 billion in a rainy day fund as of June 30, according to the report.
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Tuesday, Governor Bill Lee announced that Tennessee will have an additional $580 million invested into various budget initiatives. The amended budget will cover investments in K-12 and higher education, rural communities, safety initiatives, economic development, transportation, and additional tax cuts.
In a press release, the governor’s office shared that this was made possible through “fiscal prudence.” The Tennessee Star inquired with Lee’s office as to what those measures were that allowed these available funds to accrue. Their spokespersons didn’t respond to request for comment by press time.
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