Now that the legislature has to go into a special session, Gov. Daniels finally joined the budget conversation in earnest. The AP has an outline of his budget cuts:
Financial aid (+3%)
K-12 (+2%)
State police (flat)
Prisons (flat)
College (-4%)
State parks (-8%)
“Faith based & community initiatives” (-10%) (In quotes b/c I don’t know what these programs are.)
Homeland security (-10%)
Environmental Management (-11%)
BMV (-11%)
Health (-12%)
Libraries (-15%)
I wonder what this means for the state’s Medicaid appropriation. As I recall, it’s usually one of the (if not the) highest single line item in the budget, but I’m not sure how much control the General Assembly has over it.
Incidentally, Everybody’s Favorite Economist, Larry DeBoer had a Capital Comments column in April about Indiana’s revenue shortfall, the stimulus, and what it means for Indiana’s budget. It’s either pain now or pain later, or both. When it’s time to cut, we can really identify our priorities as a community. I’m not sure I’ll enjoy what the true priorities of our leaders are, but it’s probably time to find out.
Leave a Reply