Questions Raised About Touted $178.5 Million Surplus

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration reported a $178.5 million budget surplus for the state fiscal year that ended June 30.

But The Advocate reports that legislative financial advisers are questioning the new method used to produce the surplus figure. And state Treasurer John Kennedy said Friday that if the traditional methodology were used, the state figures would show a $141 million deficit.

Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols' office confirmed Friday that $319 million from prior state fiscal years had been added to last fiscal year's revenues to produce the surplus.

Legislative Fiscal Officer John Carpenter said he hasn't seen sufficient information to determine if that was the correct approach. Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera said his office has not seen data on how the administration came up with the surplus number.

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