Last Updated:May 07. 2008 10:33PM
Published: May 08. 2008 3:30AM

It's commonly called pork, but legislators are starting to use the term earmarks when referring to state appropriations that go to projects that are of personal interest to them.

Legislators have passed a General Fund budget for next year and sent it on to Gov. Bob Riley for his review.

The budget, which pays for general operations of state government, contains nearly $7 million in earmarks in the budgets of the Department of Tourism and Travel and the Alabama Historical Commission.

The amount could be reduced by nearly 18 percent if the economy doesn't improve to support anticipated revenue for the General Fund.

Earmarks include $10,000 for UFO Days in Fyffe, the hometown of Senate Rules Committee Chairman Lowell Barron. Someone once said they saw an unidentified flying object hovering over Fyffe, spawning a tourist event.

Shoals tourist attractions and historical sites such as the internationally known Ivy Green Helen Keller birthplace could receive a maximum of $850,000.

"They're excellent projects, and it's part of our tourism," Sen. Bobby Denton, D-Muscle Shoals, said Wednesday.

Denton said Tuscumbia's Ivy Green and Helen Keller's legacy are important to preserve. The home is to receive $250,000 next fiscal year with part of the money going to fix the home's dilapidated roof, Denton said. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia had for years received appropriations from the state education budget, but the facility was later eliminated from the budget like other quasi-state agencies. The hall of fame, however, is now in the General Fund budget.

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, which Denton helped start, will get up to $250,000 if the economy recovers to produce anticipated revenue. If not, the hall of fame will get $205,000 during the budget year, which starts Oct. 1.

Other northwest Alabama attractions and amounts they'll receive include:

Belle Mont Mansion, $150,000.

Jesse Owens Park in Lawrence County, $50,000.

Pond Spring, the official name of the Joe Wheeler Home in Lawrence County, $150,000.

"There are things all over the state; they pay into tourism," Denton said.

The General Fund budget is between $1.8 billion and $2 billion, depending on whether approration is declared and whether conditional appropriations are released.

Dana Beyerle can be reached at (334) 264-6605.