Otter Loses Revenue Bet To Andrus

The final numbers are in, and Idaho ended the fiscal year well ahead of projections for state tax revenues - $85.3 million ahead of the January projection. That means public schools will get an additional $59.9 million. Gov. Butch Otter said the final figures should also allow the next scheduled increase in Idaho’s grocery tax credit, which the state had planned to put off for a year. Otter said he lost his bet with former Gov. Cecil Andrus that state revenues would be closer to retired chief state economist Mike Ferguson’s projections than to Otter’s and the Legislature’s. “I made a silly bet with Andrus. I was hoping that he was right, and then I did everything I could do to make sure he was right,”  Otter said. “It’s a payment that I’m very happy to make”/ Betsy Russell , Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Did the Otter administration and the Idaho Legislature act wisely or recklessly in projecting revenue figures that were $85.3M low?