Total Spending: Even Worse Than We Imagined
My commitment to transparency means I tell you the good, the bad and the ugly — about everything you should know about. Usually that takes the form of me calling out waste or impropriety in our government, but this time I’m pointing out that my estimate of the profligate spending on Beacon Hill was…too low.
Last month I wrote about “the budget” and Statutory Basis Financial Report, or “SBFR”, spending, based on actual numbers published by the state. I said the real number for total spending would be in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or “CAFR”. I said that number for total spending would be about $50 billion:
FY2009 Spending
Budget = $28.2 BILLION <– this is the so-called “budget” *
SBFR = $49.4 BILLION
CAFR = $??.? BILLION <– We will know in late December or early January
It turns out I was wrong. At the end of December, the Comptroller’s office published the fiscal year 2009 CAFR, and if you go to page 164 of that report (page 164 in the footer page numbering, page 172 of the file), at the bottom of the first column of numbers you will see that I seriously underestimated total spending by our state government.
How far off was I? Total spending came in at $51.8 billion — about $1.8 billion more than I guessed it might be. We are now halfway through fiscal year 2010. Does anyone venture a guess about total spending for this year? What about 2011?
I got my Christmas present — the FY2009 CAFR — after all; now if only I could have been wrong in the other direction.
If you’re interested in the math of how much government spending goes on inside Massachusetts, you have to take the $51.8 billion and add at least another $25 billion (estimated) in municipal spending.
That works out to $76.8 billion, or:
- About $13,000 for every man, woman and child
- About $22,000 for every taxpayer
Great post, Kamal!
Its hard to admit when you’re wrong, but I appreciate your honesty and transparency.
As for a guess to next year’s spending – unless we clean house and send a clear message in Massachusetts and in the federal government I am sure government spending is going to go up at least 10% (while our own individual budgets continue to go down).
Keep up the good work on helping to ensure transparency in government.
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