Happy belated New Year, everyone! I mean the Indiana Fiscal New Year 2022, which started on July 1. The State Budget Agency celebrates the event every summer with a budget closeout, looking back at the year just ended and ahead to the next biennium. This time, âcelebrateâ is the right word.
This was a budget year for the Indiana General Assembly, and legislators passed a spending plan for the next two years based on a revenue forecast. The April revenue forecast seemed very optimistic, increasing predicted revenues for the remainder of fiscal 2021 by $463 million. Thatâs a very big number. The same forecast increased predicted revenues for fiscal years 2022 and 2023 by $1.967 billion. Thatâs almost $2 billion. I donât have an adjective to truly describe how big that number is. Itâs a very, very big number.