Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen on Friday signed into law a $29.9 billion state budget for fiscal 2011.
The new spending plan plugs a $150 million expected shortfall. While it is supported by $12.8 billion in state dollars, it also taps reserves by $245 million, leaving those accounts with a balance of $429 million.
“I’m very happy about the fact that Tennessee, one more time, passed a sensible, realistic budget during very difficult economic times,” Bredesen said in a statement.
“In the end, there were some items in the budget that weren’t the business decisions I would have made, but they aren’t bad expenditures. In fact, some of these decisions help keep some people in jobs.”
Bredesen said he was concerned about the use of one-time revenues for recurring programs, “but that was the will of both parties of the Legislature and that’s something that won’t create undue harm to the state.”
The Democratic governor will be term-limited out of office this year. Lawmakers rejected several of his recommendations to increase revenue.
The budget authorizes $194.1 million of new general obligation bonds, but information about other debt that may have been authorized was not immediately available.
