Introduction
The State of Texas budget makes use of various funds to organize its spending and income. These funds include the capital projects fund, debt service fund, and special revenue fund, further divided into smaller funds like the historical commission project funds or the texas mobility fund. This paper will examine one of these sub-funds for each of the three funds listed and their use in state government projects.
Capital Projects Fund: Historical Commission Project Funds
The Texas Historical Commission Project Funds are the constituents of the Texas Capital Project Funds. They are used for the repair and renovation of courthouses and other historical sites. For example, as part of Round X of the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Project, $4,682,610 was awarded to Marion County Courthouse to “fully restore the exterior and interior public spaces of the building to its original appearance and configuration” (Round X, 2019). Recent non-courthouse beneficiaries include the Varner-Hogg Plantation and the San Felipe de Austin Historical Site.
Debt Service Fund: Texas Mobility Fund
One of the Debt Service Funds in Texas is the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Texas Mobility Fund. It is used for “the construction, reconstruction, acquisition, and expansion of state highway projects” (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, 2019, p. 217). It is also used to help fund publicly owned toll roads and other public transportation projects, such as the streetcar restoration project in El Paso.
Special Revenue Fund: Available School Fund
The Available School Fund is used to supplement the state’s Permanent School Fund by supporting public free schools in various ways, such as providing payments to school districts based on average daily attendance over the prior year. As of the fiscal year of 2017-2018, this rate was $206.566 (Texas Education Agency, 2019). The fund also supplies textbook purchases for those school districts. It is also one of the sources of funding for the Foundation School Program.
References
Round X. (2019). Web.
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (2019). State of Texas comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2018. Austin, Texas: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Texas Education Agency. (2019). Per capita rates 1949–1950 through 2017–2018. Web.