Lt. Governor calls budget passage 'welcome relief' for taxpayers and state workers

Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman with WestGate Development Corporation's Dale Ankrom at a tech park groundbreaking.

Skillman made her comments in a state-wide conference call with media members Wednesday afternoon.

"Taxpayers across this state breathed a sign of relief after those six long months of work we finally have a budget that avoids a tax increase. It leaves $1 billion in reserve and avoids cuts to essential services," Skillman said in an opening statement.

Indiana lawmakers approved a new, two-year state budget early Tuesday evening and Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the measure into law -- just a few hours before the old budget expired at midnight.

The passage ends the special legislative session and averts a government shutdown. The measure passed the House 62-37, with 14 Democrats joining with Republicans in voting yes. All but three Senate Republicans voted for the budget as it passed that chamber 34-16.

Skillman pointed out that only four states increased educational funding as much as Indiana did in this budget -- Texas, Alaska, North Dakota and Montana.

Only eight states will have reserves equal to Indiana's. More than 20 states have raised taxes to fill their budget gaps.

Skillman said she and Gov. Daniels are pleased the budget passed before the deadline, but she warned the next budget will also be a challenge.

"The governor and I call this a good start. But certainly our work is just beginning. Even with the expectation of increased revenue going forward, we still expect to have less to spend in 2011 than we did in 2007. So now we have to manage this budget and look for places every day to save money," Skillman said. "So if you think it was difficult to adopt this budget, 2011 could be even harder."

Skillman lauded legislators for working together and coming up with a compromise.

"You know, nobody got everything they wanted. That usually means that we found a good middle ground," she said. "I know from my own service in the senate through the years that putting together a budget is very hard work and that is in the best of times. Lawmakers should be commended for their fiscal responsibility."

Skillman said the budget compromise offers a glimmer of hope for education funding -- K-12 -- which will give $1 from every $2 that income comes in over projections at the end of the fiscal year.

In Greene County, only the Bloomfield School District will have a direct cut in state funding for 2010 -- down .14 percent, according to figures provided by the Indiana General Assembly.

The district received $6,542,130 in 2009 and will receive $6,532,833 in 2010 and $6,495,144 in 2011.

The other four school districts had small increases for 2010 -- 1.47 percent for MSD of Shakamak; 1.30 percent for Linton-Stockton; 1.10 percent for White River Valley and .13 percent for Eastern Greene.

The second year of the budget -- 2111 -- shows Eastern Greene losing 1.96 percent; Bloomfield decreasing .58 percent; WRV going down .55 percent; and Shakamak decreasing .42 percent.

Linton-Stockton was projected to increase state funding by .78 percent in 2011.

According to Skillman, taxpayers benefited from the results of the special session by saving an estimated $700 million from the original budget that was being proposed when the regular session closed at the end of April. In addition, the compromised budget is $1 billion less than the House approved budget that turned over to the Senate.

Skillman noted that Century 21 Tech Fund was slashed from $70 million to $35 million over the next two years.

However, she pointed out that she doesn't anticipate that will have a great affect on WestGate at Crane Tech Park.

"WestGate at Crane Tech Park has been one of our great success stories. Quite frankly, I can't imagine anything that is going to slow down the success of that tech park. As you know, our entire area has very high expectations for even more activity in the future," Skillman said. "The 21 Century Growth Fund had helped us diversify our economic base in the state of Indiana. We are very pleased that the highest percentage of all the new jobs being committed to our state are in technology based companies so it was critically important to keep that funding there. But we just couldn't fund it to the amount we would like of course. Hopefully, good economic times will see more funding."