A big piece of the state budget-writing puzzle will be revealed this week when analysts present a new revenue forecast to the State Budget Committee.
Last fiscal year, Indiana experienced essentially flat revenue growth, which spurred the governor to cut state agency and public university budgets. Through nearly half of the current fiscal year, revenue growth has been about one or two percent, what Office of Management and Budget director Chris Atkins describes as “sluggish but positive.” He says he’s hoping for a rosier outlook in the upcoming forecast.
“We do need some small revenue growth just to maintain the programs and the spending levels that we have," says Atkins. "So at least our view is anything above very small revenue growth will allow us to do some new things.”
State Budget Committee Chair Luke Kenley says it seems like requests for more and more spending won’t stop coming in. But he says even a forecast of stronger growth isn’t quite cause for celebration.
“There’s no sense in breaking the mold right now and saying, ‘We can afford to do this and we can afford to do that.’ I think we’re going to have to continue in a cautious mode for a while,” says Kenley.
The revenue forecast will be released Thursday.
