Public TV boost likely in Sandpoint

Idaho Public Television's signal in the Sandpoint area should get a major upgrade in the coming year, legislative budget writers decided Friday.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted unanimously for a lean budget for the statewide television network for next year, but budget writers attached "intent language" making replacing the outdated Sandpoint translator the "highest priority" for any remaining funds from the past two years' efforts to convert the system to digital broadcasting.

Peter Morrill, general manager of IPTV, said the translator is likely to be replaced this summer, taking it from an outdated 100- watt translator to a modern 1,000-watt unit.

"We think because of the ongoing problems we've had at Sandpoint, that this at this point is the top priority," Morrill said.

Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, made the motion, which sliced $400,000 in funding for replacement items, but otherwise matched Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's proposal for funding IPTV next year. It was one of several small agency budgets approved Friday as legislative budget writers continued their attempt to compromise with Kempthorne on at least the smaller pieces of the 2003-2004 general tax budget.

As far as Idaho Public Television, the new budget includes no new initiatives and an overall decrease in state funding of 14.1 percent from this year, to $1.5 million in state funds. But the drop is magnified by the large investment the state has been making in converting the TV network to digital broadcasting in the past two years, to meet federal requirements. The budget allows IPTV to carry over any unspent amounts from that project and use them first for the Sandpoint translator, then for any other digital upgrades still needed.

It also encourages the network to continue applying for federal grants. Much of Idaho Public TV's funding comes from donations from viewers and from grants.

The budget was one in a series of votes that evoked little debate from either party, setting next year's budgets for public television, the Historical Society, State Library, health and special education programs, courts, juvenile corrections and anti-smoking efforts.

Budget writers generally followed Kempthorne's recommendations, although the budget panel cut out more than $1 million the governor wanted for replacing equipment. It plans to cut another $6.5 million Kempthorne proposed for equipment replacement, including equipment for vocational technical programs and agriculture research.

The administration has warned that cuts in those two programs could severely impair their effectiveness at a time when job training and farm research initiatives could be crucial to turning the economy around.

After setting the smaller budgets Friday, the joint committee recessed again without setting another meeting. It had met for just two days, after a five-week break. Leaders have no plans to reconvene until agreement is reached on a tax-increase package that can erase the estimated $160 million to $200 million shortfall in next year's budget.

As the record-setting legislative session headed toward its 100th day next week, there was no agreement in sight. The bulk of the budget - the 90 percent that includes prison, education and welfare programs - still has to be drafted.

The House-Senate panel took full advantage of alternatives to general tax receipts in plugging gaps in the budget.

On Thursday, it approved a fee schedule for inspections of scales and fuel pumps to keep the weights and measures program operating at the state Department of Agriculture. On Friday, it used cash from a new 2 percent surcharge on liquor sales to keep drug courts and family court services going. And it took $400,000 in tobacco settlement money to supplement a shortchanged budget for medical care of low-income people not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

Supplementing the fund to pay for catastrophic illnesses forced the committee to drop one of the recommendations for tobacco settlement financing - a smoking cessation program being conducted by the Idaho Primary Care Association.

Surviving almost entirely unscathed - as it did a year ago - was the health education program that provides subsidized medical and dental training for 104 future doctors and 32 future dentists.

The program was expanded two years ago just before the state's cash bubble burst, but while lawmakers and Kempthorne have been cutting everywhere else, they have maintained that commitment. Many of the doctors trained through the program stay in Idaho to practice, some in rural communities.

Lawmakers also approved a new incentive program this year that provides up to $50,000 for repayment of student loans over five years to doctors working in underserved Idaho communities for at least that long. Graduates from the health education program would get preference for those incentives.

Copyright 2003 Cowles Publishing Company
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.