Latest revenue forecast: as always, more questions than answers

For immediate release:
Dec. 18, 2014

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis), ranking Democrat on the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee, today issued the following statement on the revenue forecast offered today to the State Budget Committee:

“It would be great to be happy about the fact that there will be an overall increase in state revenues over the next biennium, but we cannot do that without admitting that we are giving the people of Indiana an incomplete picture about the way we fund state government.

“For all the talk today, there is only one number that means anything when it comes to the way this administration runs your government: $2 billion. That is their cherished figure because it represents a surplus amount that is supposed to show the world that Indiana is being run the right way.

“So it really doesn’t matter how much additional revenue our state expects to get, until you try and figure out how the administration will game the numbers to keep $2 billion in the bank at whatever cost. Past practice will indicate that services will run a poor second to keeping the bottom line healthy.

“We are still relatively early in the process of writing a new biennial state budget, but plenty of warning flags have been raised.

“The state’s Department of Child Services (DCS) needs at least 77 new case managers to provide adequate services to Hoosier children at risk. However, agency officials have said they won’t seek the funding for these positions…positions that could have been easily funded if DCS hadn’t been so intent on reverting hundreds of millions of dollars back to feed the surplus.

“While the state Department of Health might claim that reducing infant mortality and tobacco usage are its two top priorities, the agency’s budget proposal contains no new money for tobacco cessation and no funding at all for preventing infant mortality.

“The state Board of Accounts has finally come clean about its inability to do its job as a fiscal watchdog for local units of government, thanks to inadequate funding. However, instead of seeking new funding, the agency is choosing to ask those local units and schools to pay more for the audits that need to be performed upon them, as required by state law.

“In order to live up to our commitment and let our state’s brightest young minds get a college education through the 21st Century Scholar’s program, it will require an additional $90 million in state funds. Let us be hopeful that this commitment remains firm at a time when such figures seem more of a target for reversions.

“We also have seen plenty of opportunities to view whether those budget priorities should remain out of whack. Is it okay to automatically give more than $80 million in additional funding to the Department of Correction, yet commit only $10 million toward pre-K? Is it right that our commitment to feeding Indiana’s hungry is worth less than $300,000 a year, while we lavish more than $1.6 million on a Bicentennial Torch Run?

“Above all, are any of these things going to become reality if we do not meet the revenue targets and this governor again cuts funding, a move that has caused immeasurable harm to our state’s public schools in the recent past?

“If the revenue numbers announced today are true, the Legislature will have a perfect opportunity to right many past wrongs. I will be optimistic for now, but the allure of that $2 billion sitting in the bank has been too great for this governor and his majorities to make me think that many vital services and programs don’t remain at risk.”