The budget set by JFAC this morning for Idaho Public TV for next year contains an uncharacteristic 30.6 percent increase in state general funds – but the big boost is almost entirely because of some major equipment replacements that add up to $835,800 in one-time-only general funds. That includes $447,100 for communications equipment; $95,200 for three vehicles; $125,000 for the second of three phases of the Statehouse analog replacement project; $143,500 for electrical and photography equipment, $25,000 for tower maintenance and $4,000 for an emergency production graphics generator. Gov. Butch Otter recommended full funding for the equipment replacements; JFAC concurred.

The joint committee also followed the governor’s recommendations on the rest of the IPTV budget for next year, rejecting the agency’s request to shift $433,800 of its personnel costs to the state general fund. Much of IPTV’s funding comes from viewer donations and grants; just $3 million of its total budget of $9.3 million would from the state general fund next year, including the one-time equipment replacements.

Idaho Public TV was watched by more than 460,000 Idahoans in an average week in 2015, according to Nielsen ratings; it was ranked the No. 1 most-viewed PBS station per-capita in the country. Though there was no debate on the budget, two JFAC members, Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll and Rep. Jason Monks, voted no; it passed 18-2.