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State revenues starting to normalize, ending fiscal year with $3 billion in reserves

Indiana Comptroller Tera Klutz is a white woman with dark hair, wearing a blue jacket and a black dress.
Brandon Smith
/
IPB News
Indiana Comptroller Tera Klutz said the state's financial position is due to its strong fiscal leadership.

Indiana’s revenue situation is beginning to normalize after years of major fluctuations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact.

The state closed the books on its fiscal year Thursday with nearly $3 billion in reserves.

State Comptroller Tera Klutz said the state’s financial position is the result of strong fiscal leadership.

“We had another very productive year, with taxpayer refunds going out, historic investments in education, public safety, infrastructure and economic development,” Klutz said.

But Rep. Greg Porter (D-Indianapolis) said Republican supermajorities at the Statehouse failed to make "transformative" investments this past session.

"Instead, they chose to give a handout to the state's very top earners in the form of private school vouchers for the wealthy," Porter said.

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Office of Management and Budget Director Cris Johnston said while state revenues seem to have found their new normal in the wake of the pandemic, there are worrying signs in people’s pocketbooks: household savings is going down and household debt is going up.

“What is that going to mean to sales tax, which — when you look at the revenue report — is about 50 percent of our total General Fund revenue?” Johnston said.

Despite strong reserves, the state did not collect enough to trigger an automatic taxpayer refund. That’s in large part because lawmakers spent $3 billion in one-time funding in the new budget.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.