Governor Culver: Iowa Shows Signs of Strong Recovery

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Revenues increase as state recovers from Great Recession

DES MOINES – Governor Chet Culver said today that all signs point to a steady, sustainable recovery for Iowa following the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

“I’m pleased, but not surprised, that Iowa shows strong signs of rebounding following the Great Recession,” he said. “We are seeing that the Iowa Leading Indicators Index has now increased for 14 consecutive months. And the Iowa Business Council’s economic outlook survey has gone strongly into the positive zone, increasing by 20 points to 67.7 points. On top of that, Iowa’s unemployment – though still unacceptably high – is finally starting to decrease.”

Culver made his comments following a public meeting held by State Budget Director Richard Oshlo, who outlined the state’s financial position before taking public comments on the Fiscal Year 2012 budget.

Oshlo noted that state revenues are on the rise, with Iowa’s total budget surplus (ending balances for the general fund and reserve funds) for the current fiscal year projected to be $948 million. The reason for the surplus, Oshlo said, is Culver’s budgetary decisions.

“Governor Culver made the necessary budget decisions to make sure that our budget was always balanced,” he said. “He proposed and signed into law one of the most sweeping reform and reorganization initiatives in our state’s history.”

Oshlo cited several positive signs for Iowa. Among them:

• An estimated increase in Net General Fund Revenues by the Revenue Estimating Conference for FY 2012 following recent declines. Funds had fallen to $5.633 billion in Fiscal Year 2010, but now are projected by the Revenue Estimating Conference to increase to $6.031 billion by Fiscal Year 2012.
• The total budget surplus is projected to be $948 million in FY 2011, up from $796.7 million in FY 2007.

“While it is clear that tough decisions still have to be made by the new Administration and Legislature on the FY 2012 budget, we are projecting that $6.376 billion of revenues will be available for the FY 2012 general fund budget, approximately $1 billion more than in FY 2011 for additional appropriations, and that figure assumes reserve funds are fully funded at statutory levels. This estimate is similar to the projections provided by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau,” Oshlo said.

The budget hearing was required by Chapter 8.26 of the Code of Iowa.

Source: Iowa Governors Office