Earlier this week, we reported that your state lawmakers had trimmed five percent from the general fund for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) in their state budget for the next two years. However, lawmakers also cut funding to the Indiana Grain Buyers and Warehousing Licensing Agency (IGBWLA) by 50 percent. That agency had previously been budgeted $600,000 per year, but that has now been scaled back by half over the next two years.
Sources tell Hoosier Ag Today that after digging deeper into the budget details, cuts to ISDA’s overall budget are closer to 17 percent than the 12-13 percent we previously reported.
During a visit with Indiana farmers and constituents at At Ease Orchard in Hancock County on Thursday afternoon, Hoosier Ag Today asked Governor Mike Braun (R-IN) about the budget cuts, which were steeper than he had requested.
“For the Grain Buyers issue, that is going to be something that had a reason beyond just a five percent trim, which it went across, and then I have to go [talk to] the committee folks that did that. That doesn’t mean that that doesn’t get restored,” he says.
Braun also says his mandate for five percent cuts across the board for all state agencies—including ISDA—prepared lawmakers for the $2.4 billion shortfall that was forecasted just before the end of the legislative session.
“When it comes to the five percent [agency cuts], that was to prepare for what we got a week before without even knowing it. So, that forecast that showed things being off $2.4 billion over the next biennium, we were lucky we were already in motion to do it,” he says.
Hoosier Ag Today also asked Braun about the recent Property Tax Relief Bill (Senate Bill 1) that he signed into law on April 15. It is estimated to provide approximately $1.4 billion in savings to Indiana homeowners. However, it only provides $140 million in relief—or one-tenth of the overall savings—to Indiana farmland owners.
“[We] can’t fix everything in one year, but we do need to make sure that property taxes don’t overwhelm a family homestead or a family farm,” says Braun. “That’s where we have to ask our local governments and our public school systems, that everybody wants to be good, to make sure they respect their own taxpayer. That was the balance that we had to create, and again, I’m familiar with it. We’ll find that right rhythm to where we keep our local governments healthy, our school districts healthy, and we don’t overtax our citizens—our key components of our economy, and farmers would definitely be that.”
CLICK BELOW to hear Hoosier Ag Today’s conversation with Governor Mike Braun as talks further about issues impacting Indiana’s farmers.
