re: Louisiana finally has a budget surplus thanks to JBE

the right number is 143 million, but it isn't exactly a "budget surplus". these numbers are just the revenue side, and they just mean that 143 million more in total revenue came in than was forecast.

the govt can only budget up to the amount they are forecast to receive, but during the year there can be reasons they are able to spend slightly more or less, like certain types of emergencies.

the thing is, last fiscal year includes the 2016 flood response spending and that could eat into the higher-than-expected tax/fee revenues.

so once you take final spending over the year into account there might not be a *budget* surplus. and i don't believe those final spending numbers are out yet. in fact, these "final" revenue numbers probably aren't actually audited yet either and if i'm right about that, they aren't actually truly final