3. Budget History

3.2 Special Funds for Operations and Total Operations Spending

Special funds include all spending outside the general fund except spending financed by federal grants or the earnings of the Permanent Fund. Here we look at the portion of the special funds spent for operations and make some comparisons with total operations. (See Special Funds for a complete list.)

Spending from special funds has been growing, as have total operations. Adjusted for inflation, however, operations spending has not been growing, particularly if we consider spending from "own sources" (dollars collected within Alaska).

The first graph and table show total operations spending broken into 4 categories. The general fund and net special funds (excluding duplications) together equal spending from "own sources." Adding in federal funds gives a subtotal of actual spending. Finally, adding in duplicated spending (duplicated funds which are part of total special funds) gives a total that is the amount the legislature appropriates. Special fund spending (net of duplications) increased from about $82 million in 1981 to $652 million in 2000. Total special fund spending also increased, but not as fast.

Adjusting for inflation, special fund spending has increased, but declines in the general fund spending have largely offset this growth, resulting in fairly constant spending from "own sources" in recent years.

Special fund real per capita spending has also grown, but total spending from "own sources" and total spending (net of duplications) have both declined.

WHAT THE SPECIAL FUNDS PAY FOR

Although there are a large number of special funds, we can categorize them into a few groups to better see both what they pay for and how they have been growing. These categories are: public employee benefits management, university funds, permanent fund asset management, transportation, state corporations, "always special fund" (required to be separate from the general fund for constitutional or other legal reasons), and a remainder consisting primarily of other fee-supported services that do not fit neatly into one of the other categories. (See a compete list and how we categorized each fund.) This last category experienced the most rapid growth during the 1990s but is still less than one-third of the total. (See the sections on budget shifting.)

In inflation-adjusted dollars, growth was less pronounced.

Even taking out the effects of inflation and population growth, the special funds part of the operating budget has increased.

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