On Oct. 15, the Department of Administration (DOA) released the state fiscal report, detailing the final budget numbers for fiscal year 2018. The state ended the year with a balance of $588 million in general funds, which was $41 million more than budgeted.

General purpose revenue (GPR) was up over 4 percent from the fiscal year 2017 collections, totaling $16.1 billion. The largest boost in GPR taxes can be attributed to an increase in individual income taxes (up 5.5 percent), general sales and use taxes (4.3 percent), and various miscellaneous taxes (4 percent). However, corporation franchise & income and excise tax collections were down over the previous fiscal year by 2.9 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

On the expenditure side, K-12 education funding continues to be the top expense for the state. Totaling 34.9 percent of the general fund, K-12 education funding grew slightly by 1.1 percent over 2017. DOA notes that the true growth is closer 3.4 percent after the fiscal year 2017 totals are adjusted for a delayed payment from the previous year.

Following K-12 education was expenditures for Medical Assistance. Despite overall flat enrollment in the program, Medical Assistance expenses were up 10.9 percent over fiscal year 2017. The program saw a shift in the enrollment groups, with enrollment for low-income families decreasing and elderly and disabled individuals and childless adults increasing. The next top two expenditures were correctional services and state property tax relief. The graph below details the other GPR expenditures for fiscal year 2018.