Growing Government

Over the past seven years, the state budget has increased 94%, while the population has only increased 24%. According to the Goldwater Institute and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, total state spending for fiscal year 2008, which began July 1, 2007 will be an estimated $27 billion – or $855 every second. This is one of the reasons, besides the steep economic decline, that the state is facing the current budget crisis today and, hopefully, explains my consistant opposition to the budgets presented the past three sessions.