In 2005, Governor Mitch Daniels developed and passed
the tightest budget in 55 years and the state’s
first honestly balanced two-year budget in 10 years
by holding spending growth at less than 2% and without
raising taxes.
Indiana’s current budget remains balanced
and Indiana now has a surplus of $1.2 billion.
Gov. Daniels has paid back $700 million previous
administrations owed to local governments and universities,
and over $300 million to K-12 schools from the previous
era’s deficit spending.
The governor’s tax amnesty program provided
for the collection of over $270 million in back taxes
owed the state.
In 2006, Standard and Poor’s upgraded state’s
credit outlook to “AA+” from “AA.” Moody’s
Investors Service upgraded state’s credit outlook
from “negative” to “stable.”
Through fiscal discipline and efficiencies, Gov.
Daniels trimmed more than $250 million in unnecessary
spending from state government.
Daniels reduced the number of state vehicles by
2,100 generating savings of $2.6 million per year
and reduced state aircraft from 20 to 12 saving $700,000
annually.
Daniels renegotiated over 30 contracts producing
savings greater than $190 million over the life of
the contracts and established a program to take advantage
of the state’s buying power.
The program lead to cost savings of over $4.3 million
annually for hearing aids, $5 million a year for
computers, $3.1 million annually for office supplies,
and $1.2 million annually by consolidating over 200
different cell phone plans.
Governor Daniels erased a $3 billion transportation
deficit with the largest public-private transportation
project ever by leasing the Indiana Toll Road for
$3.8 billion in 2006. As a result, Indiana is the
only state with a 10-year funded highway construction
program. More than 400 road projects are scheduled
for construction by 2015, which are expected to create
more than 130,000 new jobs. Next year, Indiana
will spend $1.2 billion on road construction, nearly
twice what we spent before the enactment of “Major
Moves”.
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