Governor’s budget would trim 5% across agencies

By Whitney Downard This story was originally published on Indiana Capital Chronicle. Gov. Mike Braun detailed his first budget proposal Thursday, challenging his& eight cabinet secretaries to identify 5% savings — “on average” — across the agencies they oversee in order to pay for priorities like education spending, universal vouchers and tax reform.& However, Braun didn’t have specific examples of savings, instead saying that curbing health care costs and the implementation of new technology could help. “There’s going to be some low-hanging fruit in there, but there’s nothing that’s not going to be looked at,” Braun said. “We’re just at the beginning of it.” Braun also had tough words for schools that might see a fiscal hit from property tax cuts. Senators have made Braun’s property tax reform& their first priority& this year following double-digit assessment growth in recent years — which hurt thousands of Hoosiers but hit those with low or fixed incomes. Critics earlier panned Braun’s property tax proposal for the hit to local units of government without a replacement from state funds. Braun said that a third of counties had been “responsible” while other jurisdictions “are going to scramble.” “Once we figure out what that reset is...