By Kaitlin Lange and Arika Herron, includes “In their final hours at the Indiana Statehouse Thursday, lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the two-year state budget filled with one-time spending and an unexpected amount of new education dollars."

Editorial, includes “Ten years ago in these columns, we hailed Indiana for its leadership in establishing one of America’s most ambitious school voucher programs. On Thursday the Indiana Legislature built on that achievement by approving a budget that will take the program to 48,000 students a year from about 37,000.”

By Brandon Smith, includes “Gov. Eric Holcomb said the state’s new, $37 billion state budget will be “transformational” for Indiana’s future. The final budget proposal unveiled Tuesday uses a combination of state tax revenues and money from the latest federal COVID-19 relief package.”

We’ve updated our Data-Z website to include the latest Census population data through 2020. The link above takes you to a “pretty picture

When it comes to allowing taxpayers to easily analyze state finances, Indiana is one of the best states in the nation, according to a report released Tuesday by Truth in Accounting.

The 2020 Financial State of the States report surveys the fiscal health of the 50 states prior to the coronavirus pandemic. This data is released today by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a think tank that analyzes government financial reporting.

While we hear more about the federal and state governments for the laws they pass and policy decisions they make, it is the local governments that are responsible for public education, law enforcement, road maintenance, parks, public health programs and more. One good way for people to get a solid understanding of the county government’s activities is to look at its budget.

How large could the shortfall in state government general revenues be, amidst the coronavirus and related crises? 

It is not surprising an Illinois politician finally put in writing what economists and financial watchdogs have been warning for years: That elected officials who failed to take seriously decades of fiscal warning bells in this state eventually would seek a bailout from the federal government.

At the Bartholomew County Council work session on Monday evening, Sheriff’s Merit Board president Susan Fye and OneAmerica actuary Stan Brown presented updated benefits package proposals for the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) to the board.

ObamaCare turns 10 next month, and one piece of its legacy was a nationwide surrender on controlling health-care costs. The law has accelerated consolidation among insurers and providers, who have in turn concealed prices and increased costs. Indiana is trying to change that.

This week the Indiana Senate passed House Bill 1007, which would eliminate almost $300 million in state debt and save Hoosier taxpayers $135 million by avoiding future interest payments. This debt relief comes in the form of cash funding infrastructure projects which were already approved in the most recent state budget. We originally planned to pay for these projects with bonds, but after a one-time windfall due to federal tax changes, the state finds itself with a large enough surplus to fund these projects independently, instead of indebting itself.

One night recently, in a moment of unusual calm, I sat down to read the 2019 Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Revenue

For a second straight year, Governor Holcomb is proposing to free up money for teachers by paying down pension debt.

 Here’s something you can be sure Franklin College won’t be highlighting in its student-recruitment marketing: All three of the former Celadon Group Inc. executives charged this year in what prosecutors call a sweeping accounting fraud graduated from the tiny liberal arts school from 2002 to 2006.

According to a report by 247wallst.com, Kentucky has the worst managed pension fund in the country putting benefits at risk for many future retirees.

“Indiana lawmakers signed off on a $34 billion, two-year budget that provides a $150 million payment toward the state’s teacher pension obligations. The one-time cash infusion will create about $70 million in additional cash flow for schools but does not address the $11 billion of underfunding the system is dealing with, says Sheila A. Weinberg …”

“The City Council has approved borrowing about $8 million to cover the cash-strapped city’s day-to-day operations and other expenses until Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson’s halted plan to sell and lease back the city’s Public Safety Building can be finalized. The cash will help pay the city’s police and fire pension obligations, payroll and health insurance costs.”

After Judith Sharp had been in office as Monroe County assessor for just a month, she rattled decades-old traditions when she told attendees at a state conference that the township assessor system needed a shakeup.

Hoosiers on Tuesday voted to enshrine a balanced budget requirement into Indiana’s constitution, meaning that lawmakers cannot approve state spending that exceeds revenue estimates.