LANSING ? Michigan has closed its financial books for fiscal 2003-04 with an $81.3 million deposit into the Budget Stabilization Fund, an enormous fiscal and psychological turnaround from two months ago when state officials were concerned the general fund could finish $148 million in the red.
The state achieved a $74.1 million surplus in the School Aid Fund as well, Budget Director Mary Lannoye said in a press release. The general fund surplus was achieved through executive directives, which required financial restraint and produced significant lapses.
The state was also helped by more non-tax revenue than had been anticipated, needed because tax revenues during the last several months of the fiscal year fell off. The surplus in the School Aid Fund was accomplished through higher than anticipated collections in the state’s education tax, Lannoye said.
The state did make a $9.1 million transfer into the BSF at the close of the 2002-03 fiscal year, from excess Department of Transportation funds, but the $81.3 million transfer into the BSF is the first significant transfer since $100 million was transferred in fiscal year 1999-2000.
That BSF balance will help the 2004-05 fiscal year, but a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) said whatever good news comes from the end of the 2003-04 fiscal year, the 2004-05 year has a deficit of between $300 million and $400 million at this stage.
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