BILL #   HB 2573

TITLE:   ALTCS; county contributions

SPONSOR:   Chase

STATUS:   House Engrossed

PREPARED BY:     Russell Frandsen

                                         

 

 

FISCAL ANALYSIS

 

 

Description

 

The bill would reduce the Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) contributions of counties with per-capita expenditures above the state average. 

 

Estimated Impact

 

The estimated General Fund impact is $12,723,500 in FY 2007 and $14,215,000 in FY 2008.  These General Fund dollars would replace county funds and provide savings to counties with higher than average per-capita expenditures.  In the initial years of HB 2573, these counties are projected to be Cochise, Gila, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, and Yavapai.  General Fund costs are projected to increase in each subsequent fiscal year. 

 

Analysis

 

Current Legislation

ALTCS expenditure growth is evenly distributed between the state and counties based on each county’s utilization of ALTCS services.  After these calculations are made, 3 existing statutory provisions are applied to provide $13,673,300 relief to counties from the General Fund in FY 2007. 

 

(1)   County contributions cannot exceed 90 cents per $100 of net assessed property value.  Seven counties will receive a total of $5,349,700 relief under this provision.  Those counties are Apache, Cochise, Gila, Graham, Pinal, Santa Cruz and Yuma.  Relief under this provision ranges from $10,600 in Santa Cruz to $2,034,700 in Cochise.

(2)   Counties with an on-reservation population of at least 20% have contributions calculated under an alternate formula.  Three counties, Apache, Coconino and Navajo, will receive a total of $8,323,600 relief under this provision. 

(3)   Counties cannot pay more under current provisions as compared to previous statutory percentages.  In FY 2006, only Yavapai County qualified for aid under this provision, but no counties qualify in FY 2007. 

 

HB 2573

After the other 3 provisions to limit county contributions have been calculated, HB 2573 would provide a fourth relief provision to those counties with per-capita costs above the state average.  County costs above the average state per-capita costs would be paid for by the state.  The bill would have a General Fund cost of $12,723,500. 

 

The bill requires the use of population estimates from the Department of Economic Security (DES).  For the FY 2007 figures, the most recent DES population figures published July 1, 2004 were used.  For FY 2008 a population increase of 3.1% as based on average growth from 2002 to 2004 was assumed.  FY 2008 total ALTCS costs were assumed to increase by 18.2% as based on average growth from FY 2005 to FY 2007.  All figures are based upon the current FY 2007 budget as adopted by the House and Senate Appropriation Committees.  The adopted budget reflects the JLBC Baseline estimate adjusted downward for a federal reduction in the state’s Medicare Part D “Clawback” payment.  The table below details the savings by county under HB 2573 compared to the Appropriations Committees’ adopted budget for FY 2007:


 

FY 2007 Impact

 

Appropriations Committees’ Adopted Budget

 

HB 2573

 

ALTCS
Subtotal

Tax Relief

Reservation Relief

ALTCS Payment

Per-Capita Costs

 

Per-Capita Relief

ALTCS Payment

Apache

$   5,378,600

$(1,780,300)

$(3,006,400)

$      591,900

$  8.30

 

$                 0

$       591,900

Cochise

8,017,300

(2,034,700)

0

5,982,600

45.94

 

(377,000)

5,605,600

Coconino

3,515,300

0

(1,739,600)

1,775,700

13.70

 

0

1,775,700

Gila

3,613,200

(84,100)

0

3,529,100

65.28

 

(1,202,000)

2,327,100

Graham

1,742,700

(783,400)

0

959,300

26.63

 

0

959,300

Greenlee

221,900

0

0

221,900

26.57

 

0

221,900

La Paz

834,900

0

0

834,900

39.50

 

0

834,900

Maricopa

149,681,800

0

0

149,681,800

42.47

 

0

149,681,800

Mohave

8,293,700

0

0

8,293,700

46.02

 

(536,200)

7,757,500

Navajo

6,026,000

0

(3,577,600)

2,448,400

22.79

 

0

2,448,400

Pima

46,087,200

0

0

46,087,200

49.49

 

(6,001,200)

40,086,000

Pinal

11,687,900

(425,800)

0

11,262,100

51.24

 

(1,801,200)

9,460,900

Santa
   Cruz

2,360,400

(10,600)

0

2,349,800

55.97

 

(542,500)

1,807,300

Yavapai

10,733,400

0

0

10,733,400

54.55

 

(2,263,400)

8,470,000

Yuma

    6,603,200

  (230,800)

              0

   6,372,400

35.12

 

                0

     6,372,400

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Totals

$264,797,500

$(5,349,700)

$(8,323,600)

$251,124,200

$43.05

 

$(12,723,500)

$238,400,700

 

State per-capita costs are estimated to be $43.05 in FY 2007 and $46.64 in FY 2008.  The 7 counties qualifying for relief range in per-capita costs from $45.94 in Cochise to $65.28 in Gila for FY 2007.  In FY 2008, these same 7 counties are predicted to be the recipients of relief under HB 2573. 

 

 

3/16/06