On Oct. 17, the Department of Administration (DOA) released the Annual Fiscal Report for fiscal year (FY) 2016. The report shows the state ended the FY 2016 with a balance of $313.8 million. This is $76.2 million less than the $390 million balance assumed in the budget.

According to the report, in 2016 general purpose revenue (GPR) taxes totaled $15.097 billion. Individual income taxes increased $415 million from FY 2015, while corporation franchise and income taxes decreased 4.2 percent from FY 2015. Overall, tax collections were up over FY 2015 by 3.8 percent.

Expenditures for FY 2016 totaled $15.3 billion, a drop from the FY 2015 total of $15.5 billion. Spending for K-12 education continues to be the state’s largest expenditure, totaling $5.2 billion in FY 2016. Overall local assistance dollars consumed 51 percent of all expenditures. However, local assistance spending was down over FY 2015 by 2.3 percent.

The second largest GPR expenditure for the state was Medical Assistance – totaling $2.7 billion in FY 2016. This is an increase of 7.2 percent over the previous fiscal year. The Medicaid program continues to demand additional resources. In their 2017-19 budget request, Department of Health Services Secretary Linda Seemeyer requested $455.5 million in additional GPR for Medicaid.

Rounding out the top five, the other major expenditure includes correctional services ($1.15 billion), UW System ($993.5 million) and State Property Tax Credits ($895.4 million).

According to the report, in 2016 general purpose revenue (GPR) taxes totaled $15.097 billion. Expenditures for FY 2016 totaled $15.3 billion, a drop from the FY 2015 total of $15.5 billion.

The report is subject to change, as DOA included a footnote that agencies continue to work on final numbers and adjustments may be necessary.

Moving into the new fiscal year, the Department of Revenue (DOR) recently released the first quarter revenue numbers for FY 2017, which began on July 1. Overall, total general purposes revenues are up by 1.4 percent over FY 2016. Individual income taxes are up by 3.6 percent over last fiscal year, while corporate income taxes are down by 11.9 percent.