Indiana is nearly $2 billion ahead of its current budget after April tax revenues came in well above the expectations of that spending plan.
The state is nearly at the end of its current, two-year budget. And it has collected more revenue than needed for the budget in all 22 months of that cycle.
This fiscal year, Indiana has nearly $1.9 billion more than the budget plan expected.
And state lawmakers have already planned to spend a lot of that money. In the new state budget, HB 1001, approved just a couple weeks ago, Indiana will spend more than $1 billion this fiscal year on previously approved projects that have become more expensive due to supply chain issues and inflation.
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Those include state prison upgrades, a new state archives building and a new, combined campus for the Indiana School for the Deaf and the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
The state will also spend $700 million with money collected this fiscal year to help pay down debt in a teacher pension fund.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
