The US Postal Service’s Board of Governors approved an appropriation request of $117.7 million for fiscal year 2009 yesterday.
Every year, the board makes an appropriation request to Congress. For the fiscal year 2008, the board requested $153.4 million. At this time, the House has recommended $88.9 million and the Senate has recommended $117.9 million.
“The main reason for the lower appropriation request for FY 09 compared to FY 08 is because of lower mail volume in the free mail category,” said Dave Partenheimer, a USPS spokesman.
For the fiscal year 2009, the board’s request included a reimbursement of $69.8 million for services such as free mail for the blind and overseas voting. The USPS is required to provide these services without charge.
The request also included $29 million for the latest annual installment from the Revenue Forgone Reform Act of 1993. In accordance with this act, the USPS is entitled to be reimbursed for lost revenue as a result of certain services it was required to provide in fiscal years 1991 through 1993. This amount also covers shortfalls in reimbursement related to the cost of processing and delivering certain types of nonprofit mail from 1994 through 1998.
The appropriation request also included reconciliation adjustments for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 of $16.1 million and $2.8 million, respectively. These amounts are based upon final audited mail volumes. By law, the USPS is authorized to request partial reimbursement for costs related to providing universal service. However, since fiscal year 1993, the USPS has not requested funds for this purpose.
