The Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration asked for an $88.9 million increase in funding Wednesday during a budget hearing with Gov. Bill Lee and advisers, including department Commissioner Butch Eley.
Among the spending proposals were $20 million for business process automation, $15 million for federal funding growth, $14.4 million for information technology support and maintenance and $14 million for cybersecurity.
“(Cybersecurity)’s definitely one of the most important things in this proposal,” Eley said. “If we don’t stay ahead of the cyber curve, we are going to regret it.”
There was a $2.76 million budget request from the two-year-old Office of Evidence and Impact, whose job it is to investigate government spending to determine whether it is working appropriately and is cost-effective.
The office was one of Lee’s requests and is “proving what we are doing across government is actually wise spending of taxpayer dollars.”
If not, programs will change or be eliminated.
The $15 million request for federal funding growth would be a federal cost for the Office of Criminal Justice Programs, which is a strategic planning agency that works with, collects, distributes and manages federal funding.
