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Here is a letter from Peggy Rudd regarding the Legislative Budget Board's recommendations: Dear Colleagues: The Legislative Budget Board (LBB) released its budget recommendations on Tuesday of this week, the first day of the 78th Legislative session. I want to make you aware of the LBB recommendations for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC). The LBB recommendations sustain the base budget presented in TSLAC's Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005, with two important exceptions. First, TSLAC included in each year of the 2004-2005 biennium $2.9 million for the Library Resource Sharing strategy. The total of $5.8 million over the biennium was earmarked for TexShare databases. The source of these funds is a direct legislative appropriation from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF), which is labeled in TSLAC's LAR as "GR (General Revenue) Dedicated - Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund No. 345." The LBB recommended only $1.45 million for each year of the biennium for a total of $2.9 million for the biennium. This recommendation would create a $2.9 million shortfall in revenue over the two years of the biennium. Second, the LBB recommendations included only $3,685,000 for FY2004 for the Library of Texas grant expected from TIF in FY2004. TSLAC's LAR included $7,368,887, which is the amount of money that TSLAC plans to seek from TIF in FY2004. These funds would be used to pay for TexShare databases. This LBB recommendation would create a revenue shortfall of approximately $3,685,000 for the biennium. In addition, the LBB moved the funding for TexShare databases from TSLAC's operating budget to the capital budget. This move restricts expenditures to 125% of the budget amount without approval from the LBB. In other words, if TSLAC directed funds from other sources to the TexShare databases to make up for the shortfall, we would be limited to spending no more than 125% of our total capital budget. In order to spend more than that, we would have to submit a request to exceed our capital budget to the LBB and hope for approval. It is too soon to tell how the recommendations of the LBB will be acted upon. The Governor's budget recommendations are due to be released shortly after the inauguration next week. We do not know yet how TSLAC's Legislative Appropriations Request will be handled in that budget. We will inform you of further developments as quickly as we can. You may find the full LBB budget recommendations at <http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Bill_78/1_Recommend/Bill-78_1.htm>. Please let me know if you have questions. I'd like to take this opportunity to inform you of the new "Go beyond the Internet with TexShare" web site, which is an outgrowth of the TexShare Communication Plan. You may access the web site at www.tsl.state.tx.us/texshare/gobeyond <http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/texshare/gobeyond>. Public information materials are available at the TexShare Databases Communication Plan web site at www.tsl.state.tx.us/texshare/plan <http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/texshare/plan>. Sincerely, Peggy D. Rudd Director and Librarian Texas State Library and Archives Commission Deborah Littrell Director Library Development Division Texas State Library and Archives Commission PO Box 12927 Austin, TX 78711-2927 Phone 512-463-5456 Fax 512-463-8800 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Include in body: unsubscribe ctls-l For information on CTLS-L please visit: http://www.ctls.net/document/ctls-l.htm
