Maintaining her commitment to fiscal responsibility and ensuring a balanced budget, Governor Maggie Hassan announced today that the State of New Hampshire finished Fiscal Year 2014 with a $19.5 million surplus over the adjusted budget, with state agencies exceeding cash lapse estimates by $8.5 million “Last year, we came together across party lines to enact the most bipartisan budget in more than a decade, without a sales or income tax, and by carefully managing state agency expenditures and taking preemptive action to protect our budget, we have ended Fiscal Year 2014 with a $20 million surplus,” Governor Hassan said. “Thanks to our bipartisan commitment to responsibly investing in our shared priorities, as well as the hard work of state agencies and employees to exceed their lapse estimates, we have made real progress to move our state’s economy forward while also maintaining our commitment to a fiscally responsible, balanced budget. I will continue to work with members of both parties to adjust the budget to address declining revenue estimates for the coming year and do what is necessary to finish Fiscal Year 2015 with a responsibly balanced budget. ” As the economy continues to recover, meals and rooms and real estate transfer tax revenues remain strong. However, continued shortfalls in revenues from business taxes and the interest and dividends tax – largely driven by changes to tax laws that went into effect in the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2014, when the State first began to see revenues falling below plan – have put a strain state’s budget. In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services has seen caseload growth larger than projected. The Governor has convened the Consensus Revenue Estimating Panel to provide updated Fiscal Year 2015 revenue estimates, and earlier this year, she issued preventative and preemptive spending, out of state travel and hiring freezes, which remain in effect. Governor Hassan has also asked agencies to delay any large expenditures. Moving forward, state agencies will continue to only spend on bipartisan priorities that the Legislature appropriates money for, either through the bipartisan budget, existing law, Fiscal Committee or new laws that the Legislature has passed. “As we continue to analyze revenue shortfalls and caseload growth at the Department of Health and Human Services, I believe it is important that we continue to act preemptively and aggressively to keep our budget balanced,” Governor Hassan said.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 20:33:02 +0000
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