Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, December 19, 2018
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Indiana lawmakers will likely have less money to spend on child services and education than they’d hoped for when they start drafting the state’s next two-year budget in January.
And that's despite a promising new state revenue forecast.
State fiscal analysts projected Monday that state revenues will increase by $442.8 million in 2020 and $386 million in 2021.
But a big increase in funding for the embattled Indiana Department of Child Services and a jump in Medicaid expenses are projected to consume nearly the entire revenue increase.
If legislators give DCS and Medicaid their full requests, that leaves only $35 million in new tax revenue for all other state needs in the first year of the next two-year budget. The second year would have a deficit of $23 million.
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