Dick Oshlo, the head of the Department of Management and Budget wrote an editorial for the Des Moines Register today, and he has some good news for Iowa:
It is said that if you repeat something long enough, it becomes fact. Such is the case with the recent claims of the so-called $1 billion deficit facing Iowa.
Iowa is not facing a deficit. Instead, we will have a total general fund budget surplus of over one-half of a billion dollars in the current fiscal year 2011.
The surplus wasn't happenstance. Through Gov. Chet Culver and the Legislature, the state has implemented an early retirement program, ordered major department efficiencies and mandated a reorganization of state government.
You can read the entire editorial on the Des Moines Register's website.