How would you spend state's $300M surplus?

Louisiana was clinging to the edge of a fiscal cliff earlier this summer, but the state now finds itself with a fat $300 million surplus that Gov. John Bel Edwards and lawmakers already have ideas about how to spend.

Some of the money is dedicated by law. Twenty-five percent comes off the top for the Budget Stabilization Fund, better known as the Rainy Day Fund, and 10 percent must go toward retirement debt.

But the rest, which will likely be more than $200 million, can be funneled to one-time expenses like construction and coastal projects.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, noted that 2019 is an election year.

"So I expect to have a lot of suggestions from members who'd like to see some of that money flow into projects in their districts," he said.

Henry, whose committee crafts the annual budget, said his top priority is elsewhere.

"I think the body needs to look at retiring as much debt as possible to prepare for when the (temporary) sales tax rolls off so it's not such a big hit for the state," he said.

This summer the Legislature passed and Edwards signed into law a new 0.45-cent sales tax to avoid budget cuts as a replacement for a previous temporary 1-cent sales tax that expired June 30. The new tax expires in 2025.

Henry said if lawmakers decide to appropriate a portion of the surplus to projects, "it should be directed toward projects that could be finished."

"I'd rather the majority go toward solving problems rather than spread it so thin it doesn't move the needle," Henry said.

Edwards said Thursday there's "no shortage of needs and it's a great day when we can satisfy some of those needs with cash rather than borrow money."

"We don't have a priority list yet, but we will produce one shortly," he said.

But Edwards did mention the $14 billion backlog in deferred infrastructure needs as well as the state's crumbling college campuses.

Those are two priorities for Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Winnfield, who also sits on the House Appropriations Committee.

"When you improve infrastructure you create opportunities for decades," McFarland said.

But state Treasurer John Shroder, a Republican, has said he believes the governor and Legislature may fritter the surplus away.

"I have absolutely no confidence on how this money is going to be spent," Shroder told the Associated Press. "I know some of this money is going to be spent on pet projects and things that aren't priorities to this state. That's what bothers me."

Some lawmakers and anti-tax organizations have said the surplus shows that the Legislature didn't have to raise the 0.45-cent sales tax and have also suggested the governor was tipped off that a surplus was coming.

"It was clear to those of us who voted against the tax we didn't need it," said Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport.

"The governor needs to explain how it is we have a surplus when just two months ago he claimed we didn’t have enough money to keep the lights on," said Americans for Prosperity's John Kay.

Edwards dismissed both assertions as "quite silly." He also noted that last year's surplus wouldn't have been available for last year's budget and couldn't be spent on recurring expenses anyway.

"The idea that the administration has access to inside information is unequivocally false," he said. "The bottom line is having a surplus is a good thing."

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1