A three-member panel of experts says Iowa’s economy is holding steady and the group has stuck with its previous estimate of state tax collections for the current fiscal year. Legislative Services Agency director Holly Lyons says while the economy is “lackluster”, the state is experiencing “slow growth.”
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Lyons and the other two members of the Revenue Estimating Conference project state tax revenues will grow four-point-four percent in the next state fiscal year which begins July 1st. David Roederer (ROH-der-er), the governor’s budget director, says he’s worried about farm commodity prices.
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But Lyons says the financial service industry is now one-fifth of the Iowa economy and that is helping Iowa “ride the negative impacts” of the slumping ag economy.
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The predictions on state tax collections the panel made mean legislators won’t have to pare down the current state budget, plus legislators now can finalize their budget writing for the following year.