Secretary Michael Gargano of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration asked the State Budget Committee this week to raise the funding for local welfare offices by 58 percent for the fiscal year that begins next July 1—and more for the following year.
Indiana lawmakers will swim rough political waters next year when deciding whether to spend millions more on overcrowded prisons or reducing prison sentences and being seen as soft on crime.
The state Budget Agency reported Wednesday that Indiana collected $959 million in October. That’s $23 million below the most recent forecast and about $81 million less than projected in the budget lawmakers passed in 2009.
With new control of the Indiana House, Republican lawmakers plan to pursue an agenda focused on encouraging the private sector to create jobs and passing a budget without tax increases.
A recent poll found that more than 60 percent of likely voters support the proposed constitutional amendment, and some of the measure’s biggest opponents have given up the fight.
The state will begin paying millions of dollars in penalties and interest to the federal government next year because it has borrowed nearly $2 billion to pay for jobless benefits.
With a Republican tide predicted to wash over the country in next month’s election, there is a very real chance that the Indiana House will be dominated by the GOP for the first time since 2005-06, putting virtually all policy-setting responsibilities in Indiana in one party’s hands.
The state Budget Agency reported Friday that Indiana collected $938 million in August. That's $51 million above the most recent forecast, but still $2 million less than projected in the budget lawmakers passed in early 2009.
Gov. Mitch Daniels said the layoffs were “one of the very, very few involuntary reductions” that Indiana government has had to make to cut spending.
An effort to shift some foster care costs to the federal government would throw up more red tape and make it harder for caretakers and providers to get services for troubled children, a coalition of child care agencies said Friday.
A bipartisan duo of state lawmakers wants Congress to allow states to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases, a move they say could bring hundreds of millions of dollars to cash-strapped Indiana.
House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said the state’s next two-year budget doesn’t have to be “honestly balanced,” meaning the state could spend more than it takes in by dipping into reserves if the economy continues to sag.
The State Budget Committee has approved Indiana State University's plans to turn the former Terre Haute federal building into a business school.
Dwindling tax revenues will cause a projected $1.3 billion budget gap as the state enters its next budget, according a report released Thursday by the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute.
The state Budget Agency reported Friday that Indiana collected $938 million in August. That’s $51 million above the most recent forecast, but still $2 million less than projected in the budget lawmakers passed in early 2009.
The state's largest farm organization says it will strongly support efforts to retain township trustees and township advisory boards. Several legislative proposals in recent years have sought to shrink local government and eliminate or consolidate such positions.
The state has a new transparency website that pulls together Indiana budget data, spending reports and other financial information
that had previously been spread across multiple sites.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels says he doesn't want to see trustees of the state's public colleges and universities asking
for more money at the Statehouse.
Daniels has publicly railed against the newly approved $26 billion stimulus package, but his office said Friday that applications
had been submitted for about $200 million toward Medicaid and about $200 million for education.
Despite criticizing the latest stimulus package, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he will ask the federal government to send
the state more than $435 million for schools and Medicaid.
