Though Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said new figures that will be released in a few days will show another dip in unemployment claims in the state, he still isn’t ready to celebrate.
“I take some encouragement from this data ... but we still have so far to go to get back to where we want to be,” Daniels said.
He spoke to a group of community members, politicians, real estate brokers and others at Indiana University Southeast Thursday morning about where Indiana is and how he plans to take the state through the recession to become stronger in the end.
“Everything I see shows we’ll be slow in coming out of this,” he said. “That means we’re going to have to remain extremely careful in our work about how we spend public dollars to make sure we don’t fall into the ditch with all those other states who are letting prisoners out of jail early, and raising taxes on people who don’t have enough money as it is and making business prospects for a comeback even harder than they are.
“We’re going to fight that as best as we can in this state. I think it’s going to be a while.”
He said revenue projections show that the state will get less in 2011 than was received in 2007 from tax collections.
“That’s a bit of a measure of an expectation of a very slow climb from what has been a very big national drop in jobs and consumer spending,” Daniels said. “I fully expect we’ll still be fighting our way back to full employment a year or two from now.”
A hopeful point, Daniels noted, is that businesses are looking to move to the state. He said CNBC announced Indiana is first in the Midwest and 15th nationally as a top state for business. He said Southern Indiana is playing a large role in that.
“We’re not happy about the state’s economy anywhere, but yes, I see lots of signs of life [in Southern Indiana], certainly a lot of interest,” Daniels said. “The flow of businesses who are interested in coming into Indiana, bringing jobs, has not really slowed down much, and Southern Indiana has been the area they’re most interested in for various reasons.”
He said those reasons include the location, infrastructure, low cost, work force and other pluses.
Daniels said the state has had to make a number of cuts to keep afloat during this recession, including $767 million in budget reductions in December last year, no raises in 2009 and more.
“I would love to say that we don’t have to do any more than we have. We’ve been ... probably the most frugal state in America,” Daniels said. “It’s not getting any easier. Until this economy comes back, if our revenues fall, we will find ways to economize.
“We are not going to raise taxes on people during a recession.”
Economizing may mean putting things on hold, such as the recently approved $22 million education and technology building at IUS. Daniels said that and other capital projects will be examined and reviewed to see what is the most urgent and what can wait.
Larry Mand, vice chancellor of information, technology and community engagement at IUS, was one of those at the meeting.
“It’s pretty obvious they have to be very cautious on increasing the debt load on the state at this point,” Mand said. “I was encouraged that the governor saw [the building] as a priority and that it’s an important contribution to this part of the state and that it needed to go forward, but it may not go at the rate that we’d like to see. We’ll just have to wait and see how it works out.”
The General Assembly already approved funding for the building. Now, the project has been turned over to the state budget committee, which has to give the authorization to sell bonds for the project, Mand said.
He said he felt that Daniels’ speech was very informative, though grim.
“I think it was very realistic. Even though we are in a very difficult economy, it does look as if we’re poised to come back strong once things start rolling again,” Mand said. “It’s good to see he’s focused on Southern Indiana.”
Daniels said his focus will remain in state, despite national rumors that he will run as a candidate in the 2012 presidential election.
“We’ve got a very big job on our hands. We’re completely absorbed trying to help Hoosiers get through this and come out the other end stronger than other states. That’s plenty enough to keep me busy and that’s all I’m planning to do,” he said when asked if he’s planning on a presidential run.
So, the question was asked again.
“I am not running for president,” he answered.
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