A “Resurgent Economy”
Sacramento, CA — California State Controller Betty Yee has released the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) showing a boost in revenues.
The report shows what she calls a “resurgent economy,” which has led to a $29.6 billion increase in revenues for the 2014-15 fiscal year. While spending and transfers took a bite out of that amount, the state coffers still wound up with an additional $13.1 billion. The General Fund saw a 12% hike over the previous year, netting $116.8 billion. Yee attributes that jump to a surge in personal income tax, which accounted for $9.3 billion, or 74% of that fund’s growth. She also noted that guidelines used from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board allowed for a better accounting of the government’s unfunded pension obligation with the net being $63.7 billion as of June 30, 2015. Yee states, “The GASB accounting rules will help to increase transparency, which will in turn focus local and state governments on ensuring they adequately plan for these important long-term obligations.”
She adds her office will implement similar standards in 2017-18 for other postemployment benefits, primarily retiree health care.
