17-7-151. Budget performance -- comparison. - Montana Statutes

     17-7-151. Budget performance -- comparison. (1) The measure of budget performance is the total actual or estimated expenditure of state resources that reflects the cost of general government operations funded by taxes and fees.
     (2) In preparing budget comparisons, the office of budget and program planning and the legislative fiscal division shall compare actual expenditures of state resources in the first year of the current biennium plus appropriations of state resources in the second year of the current biennium to appropriations of state resources in the next biennium. Anticipated reversions may be deducted from appropriated amounts per agreement between the two offices.
     (3) The legislative fiscal analyst and the budget director shall enter into an agreement on measurement standards for budget comparisons. The office of budget and program planning and the legislative fiscal division shall use the same methodology to estimate the amounts of statutory appropriations. If there are differences in estimates of revenue or amounts of statutory appropriations, the legislative fiscal analyst shall explain the differences as part of the independent analysis of the executive budget.
     (4) Budget comparisons must include the same attributes and methods of calculation. Items that are not appropriated at the beginning of a biennium, such as budget amendments, supplemental appropriations, and emergency appropriations, must be included in budget comparisons, but must be segregated and indicated as noncomparable items.

     History: En. Sec. 2, Ch. 74, L. 1997.