Lawmakers get another dose of good state budget news

Legislators received another dose of good budget news this week. The state is on target to end the 2016-17 budget year with a $132.5 million surplus – well ahead of the $48.4 million cushion lawmakers wrote into the budget when they adjourned the 2016 session in March, writes Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News.

One reason for the windfall: State tax collections continue to outpace projections. Through October, and the first four months of the 2016-17 budget year, revenue collections were $36.8 million ahead of projections. And for this four-month period, revenue collections are up 9.6 percent from 2015, according to the latest budget update from the state’s Division of Financial Management . Richert’s full report is online here .

Legislative Budget Director Cathy Holland-Smith, who presented the latest budget numbers to the Legislative Council today, said it’s pretty much all good news. “It’s a very stable environment that we’re in right now,” she said. “The revenue seems to be stable, the spending seems to be stable, the needs seem to be stable.”