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Friday, December 09, 2011

Ind. Gov't. - Windfalls and General Fund Revsions

Yesterday's Fort Wayne Journal Gazette had a long editorial headed "Windfall vs. painful cuts" that begins:

Is the $320 million uncovered by state budget officials a windfall that should be returned to taxpayers?

Not if you’re an Indiana foster parent who had to file suit when the state froze foster care reimbursement rates. Neither would you believe it if you’re an Indiana teacher whose job was eliminated when the state cut $325 million from K-12 schools, or if the services you received for a mental illness were lost in a round of Medicaid cuts.

What Gov. Mitch Daniels is characterizing as a Christmas bonus looks like a sad reminder of essential services cut in the name of unavoidable spending reductions. Returning some to taxpayers already has been proposed, but those deep and dangerous cuts shouldn’t be ignored. * * *

In the last fiscal year alone, the Daniels administration reported more than $1.1 million in general fund reversions – spending approved by the Indiana General Assembly but returned to the state’s coffers. The amount included 46 percent of the Department of Agriculture appropriation, 39.9 percent of the Department of Veterans Affairs and 52 percent of the Department of Labor’s $5.2 million appropriation. The Indiana State Fair Commission returned more than $1 million – 62.9 percent – of its $1.6 million appropriation.

“(Agency) budgets go through a very particular and painstaking approval process,” noted Bill Glick, president of the Children’s Coalition of Indiana. “Cuts in services and reversions don’t. There is no legislative oversight – it’s up to the executive branch.”

Glick said the cuts would be understandable if the needs weren’t so great.

“I don’t think there’s anyone out there that says the need isn’t there,” he said.

Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend, said his first concern as a member of the State Budget Committee is how the budget error was made and how it continued over five years.

“Certainly, the governor and his staff were very outspoken and critical of the revenue forecasting committee,” he said. “They went so far as to undermine the revenue forecasting process, (which) probably wouldn’t have looked as bad if those hundreds of millions of dollars had been factored in. * * *

One idea might be to restore some of the money cut from much-needed services for children. Broden offered a bill last session, for example, that would have provided about $8 million for adoptive children on that waiting list of 500-plus families. The bill failed, but would it have fared better with an additional $300 million available?

Here is a list of the General Fund Reversions FY 2010-11; details are here. There is more, see the entire Fiscal Year 2010-2011 Close-Out Statement page.

Here is a copy of the letter from the Democratic Caucus, dated Dec. 8, 2011, requesting discussion of an independent audit into the unreported $320 million in revenue.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 9, 2011 09:41 AM
Posted to Indiana Government