Emilie Ritter Saunders was StateImpact Idaho's multimedia reporter until the project merged with the Boise State Public Radio site in July 2013. She previously worked as the Capitol Bureau Chief for Montana Public Radio and was a Senior Fellow with NPR's Economic Training Project from 2009 until 2010. She graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2007.
The governor’s budget office has revised down its revenue projections for fiscal year 2013 by $12.7 million. The current budget year reduction will go from $2.67 million to $2.658 million, as revenue collections have been slightly below forecasts.
The Division of Financial Management reports the largest declines are from corporate income taxes and sales tax. “The former was reduced by $6.3 million and the latter has been lowered by $8.1 million. These revisions were partially offset by a small upward adjustment to the individual income tax,” writes state economist Derek Santos.
Tax collections for December were slightly lower than projections. DFM’s monthly report shows collections were 1.5 percent below forecast.
Idaho legislators will be closely watching tax collections and whether the state is meeting its projections as it crafts the budget for 2014.
Here’s a different take on Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s State of the State speech. It’s his 8-page speech boiled down into 50 frequently used words. The larger the word, the more often it was used.
Click on the State of the State 2013 word cloud to enlarge.
Now, compare this year’s State of the State word cloud to Gov. Otter’s 2012 speech. Do you see much of a difference? Continue Reading →
Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy director Mike Ferguson says Gov. Otter’s budget proposal doesn’t put the state’s “priorities in the right place.” The governor’s suggested budget spends about $84 million more in fiscal year 2014 than in fiscal year 2013, bumping total state general fund spending to $2.78 billion. That’s a 3.1 percent increase. To get there, the Otter administration assumes Idaho’s revenue will grow 5.27 percent, growth the state hasn’t experienced since before the recession. Continue Reading →
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter says Idaho should expand options for Idahoans who want to attend medical school.
During his State of the State speech, Otter pushed for legislation that would expand the number of seats in the WWAMI program. Medical students from Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho are able to attend the University of Washington’s medical school for the price of in-state tuition. The student’s home state pays the difference in out-of-state and in-state tuition.
Otter says the state should add five seats to the WWAMI program. That would boost the number of first-year seats from 20 to 25. The additional seats would cost Idaho about $250,000 per year.
Otter also cited Idaho’s aging physician workforce. As StateImpact Idahoreported last year, the most current data from the American Medical Association shows 41.5 percent of all physicians in Idaho are 55 or older.
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter released his budget along with his State of the State speech today. Here are some key points. The full speech is posted below.
The governor’s budget would increase general fund spending by 3.1 percent in fiscal year 2014. The FY14 budget is $2.78 billion, that’s an $84 million increase over FY13.
The governor’s budget estimates a 5.27 percent increase in revenue in fiscal year 2014
The governor’s budget calls for a 2 percent increase in K-12 public school spending, that’s about $25.6 million
The governor’s budget sets aside $35 million for the state’s rainy day fund. The fund currently has about $23 million, and $25 million will statutorily be added to the fund. This would mean the budget stabilization fund could be up to $83 million by fiscal year 2014. Continue Reading →
The lawmakers that make up Idaho’s 2013 state Legislature are older, more educated, more male and more Mormon than the population of Idaho as a whole. That’s according to demographic data collected by StateImpact Idaho. You can check out the data in the infographic below. For context on what it means to have these demographic differences between Idaho’s population and its legislators, read our posts on gender, age, education, religion and occupation.
11:00 a.m. Repealing the Personal Property Tax: A panel discussion including Idaho Association of Counties executive director Dan Chadwick, Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy director Mike Ferguson, and Attorney/CPA Rick Smith
You can follow our liveblog here at the StateImpact blog, and Idaho Public Television will have an audio stream of the event here.
As part of the Congressional “fiscal cliff” deal, unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployed will be extended through the end of the year at a cost of $30 billion.
The Idaho Department of Labor says the more than 6,000 Idahoans who have been receiving federal jobless benefits, won’t miss a check, and because of the “fiscal cliff” deal, payments won’t be interrupted. Continue Reading →
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