News From Terre Haute, Indiana

News Columns

July 17, 2011

STATE OF THE STATEHOUSE: Weathering the sunny and stormy news from the Statehouse

INDIANAPOLIS — What would you do if you had a lot more money coming into your bank account than you anticipated?

Would you sit on it, fearful of storm clouds on the horizon that might bring a torrential downpour of bad economic news? Or spend some of it on people who helped you weather the last storm and kept you from sinking under water?

The weather metaphors were raining down on the Statehouse this past week when the topic of finances came up; first invoked by state Auditor Tim Berry and a day later by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

On Thursday, Berry announced some sunny news with the state’s final budget figures for the 2011 fiscal year. After balancing its checkbook, the state has $1.2 billion in reserves. That’s plenty enough to refill the state’s emergency spending fund — also known as its Rainy Day Fund — which was seriously depleted in recent years by sluggish revenues brought on by the recession.

A year ago at this time, Berry was announcing a grimmer assessment: Indiana ended fiscal year 2010 with $188 million in reserve and fears that it would keep draining away.

It went from scary to good due to much better revenues than anticipated and deep spending cuts by state agencies. Berry said the state took in $204 million more than expected in taxes in the 2011 fiscal year, and cut even deeper into state spending than initially estimated by cutting positions and programs.

Some of those cuts came from education spending, but Berry said the deepest cuts were to state agencies whose already reduced workforces were asked to do much more with much less. Berry said it wasn’t unusual for a single state employee to be doing the work that two or three state employees once did.

He repeated that theme frequently in his press conference, calling state employees — from prison workers to state park maintenance workers — the real “heroes” in the story of the state’s fiscal soundness.

As Berry noted, over the past three years state employees have gone without a raise, while watching their health insurance costs go up. Berry more than hinted that the state’s 28,000 employees were due a reward.

A day later, Daniels delivered that reward with what he called an “efficiency dividend” — a one-time bonus payment of up to $1,000 for the state employees who helped him earn his national reputation as a tight-fisted, budget-balancing governor.

The cost of those bonuses will be about $20 million, Daniels said. About 90 percent of the 24,000 state employees who work for the executive branch are expected to receive a bonus, based on their end-of-the-year performance evaluations. 

For state employees who were hoping that a billion-dollar budget surplus would mean the return of regular pay raises, both Berry and Daniels rained on that parade of an idea. Both talked about the “storm clouds” on the financial horizon: a sluggish economy, lagging job growth, and gridlock in the nation’s capital on a debt-ceiling deal. And both mixed in some non-weather metaphors, as well. In explaining why it’s “very unlikely” that he’ll push to spend more money, including more money on K-12 education, Daniels said: “There are caution lights going on all over this economy.”



Maureen Hayden is Statehouse bureau chief for CNHI Indiana newspapers. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
News Columns
Latest News
Multimedia
Like us on Facebook!
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
Front page
AP Video
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff Obama Honors Fallen Troops at Arlington Cemetery Man in Crane at Texas College Says He's Armed Raw Video: Deadly Explosion at Minn. Paper Mill Raw Video: Cop Shoots Man Eating Another's Face Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows Romney Promises World's Strongest Military Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108 Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire Obama Pays Tribute to Vietnam Veterans Beryl Knocks Out Power in Florida Raw Video: Earthquake Shakes Evacuees in Italy Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice Raw Video: Memorial Day Aboard Intrepid Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
NDN Video
LeAnn Rimes Rocks Short Shorts Drunk Women Breaking Into Houses: A New Trend? Beyonce Shows Off 60 Pound Weight Loss at Concert Raw Video: Cop Shoots Man Eating Another's Face Gordon Ramsay Carried Off Field Man Dies Getting Lap Dance Bear cools off in Calif. family's pool Kim Kardashian Claims Items Stolen from Her Luggage Ep. 3: Chopped Desserts Air Force dad surprises family at baseball game Justin Bieber Wanted for Questioning for L.A. Scuffle J.Lo and Marc's Friendly Reunion Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff Jet makes emergency landing after debris falls off Raw Video: Deadly Explosion at Minn. Paper Mill Cynthia Nixon Ties the Knot Woman, 80, Falls Out of Skydive Harness Mid-Jump Keira Reveals Engagement Ring Dog runs alonside cyclists for 1,100 miles Lady Gaga Cancels Indonesian Show After Threats
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News