INDIANAPOLIS (July 15, 2005) The state officially closed the Fiscal Year 2005 books this week, the end of a biennial budget passed in early 2003. Governor Mitch Daniels said he hopes it will be the last deficit for years to come and is encouraged by higher than expected revenues in the most recent quarter.

Today, we close the books on a decade of deficits, said Governor Daniels. In the fiscal year just begun, we intend to balance the state's budget and emerge from bankruptcy into a new era of financial responsibility.

For FY05 that ended on June 30, the state ran a General Fund deficit of $222 million, with expenditures exceeding revenues by that amount. The state ended the year with a General Fund/Property Tax Replacement Fund combined balance of $749 million; however, liabilities still exceed assets. The state still owes $726.8 million in delayed payments to higher education institutions, K-12 schools and municipalities and $50 million to the Public Deposit Insurance Fund.

Indiana ended FY05 with revenues of $145 million more than the April forecast, primarily because of increases in individual income and sales tax. For the year, individual income tax collections were $68.4 million over targeted collections, and sales taxes were $24.5 million over the forecast. Annual revenue growth over Fiscal Year 2004 was 7.7 percent.

The Indiana General Assembly's two-year $24 billion budget for the next biennium shows a deficit of about $131.6 million for Fiscal Year 2006 before balancing in Fiscal Year 2007. Office of Management and Budget Director Charles Schalliol said he is determined to balance it in the first year through effective management and spending restraint.

The legislature passed a budget that balances over two years, but we are already hard at work on managing spending to achieve this goal in one, said the governor.

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