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Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Study: 2024 Balloon Fiesta generated more than $215M for local economy
Feb. 27—The 2024 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta had an estimated economic impact of $216.3 million, according to a study conducted by the research company Forward Analytics. The new figure appears to continue an upward economic trend. In 2022, the event had a $203 million impact. "I was very pleased that it generated the amount that it did," Balloon Fiesta Executive Director Julie Morgas Baca told the Journal on Thursday. "(That money) benefits New Mexico — not just Albuquerque, not just Bernalillo County." The 52nd Balloon Fiesta was the first as director for Morgas Baca, who took charge of the event in September after leaving her position as Bernalillo County manager — a role she held for nine years. The event's economic benefit increased local businesses' volume by an estimated $127.3 million, driving some $15 million in tax revenue, spurred by spending on retail, food and drinks, overnight lodging, car rentals and gasoline, according to the report. The $15 million was distributed among the state, city and county. New Mexico received $7.13 million, Albuquerque $6.23 million and Bernalillo County raked in $1.67 million, the report said. Guests from outside the Albuquerque region made up about 85% of the festival's 838,337 attendees, and 58% of visitors came to Albuquerque primarily to attend the festival. Notably, about 12% of guests visited from Texas, 9% from Colorado, 6% each from California and Colorado, 4% from Florida, 1% from other countries and 35% from other states. "When you have nine days and multiple sessions of no cancellations, you'll see a lot of benefit at the event along Main Street as well as around the community, and I think that's what we saw this year," said Tom Garrity, founder and president of Albuquerque-based The Garrity Group, which manages public relations for the fiesta. Attendance numbers climbed slightly from 2022, including the percentage of in-state visitors at 27% — an increase from 2022 when 24% of attendees were state residents. Morgas Baca attributed the in-state attendance increase to New Mexico Day when residents were extended free admission. "Folks from within the state are really proud of the event, they want to be a part of it, and it's just a reflection of how important our culture is and how proud New Mexicans are of the event," Morgas Baca said.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Tony Evers' budget has a $2.4 billion net tax increase, would create a shortfall
MADISON – If approved by lawmakers, Gov. Tony Evers' new two-year state budget proposal would leave a potential shortfall of billions of dollars over the following two years, according to projections from his administration. The Democratic governor's fourth spending plan would cut income and sales taxes by $900 million and take steps to lower local property taxes by more than $1 billion. In separate provisions, the plan would raise state taxes by $3.3 billion for a net increase of $2.4 billion. Meanwhile, the budget would spend more than $59 billion annually — an increase of about 20% over current levels. The plan would balance the 2025-27 budget by drawing down the state's sizable reserves by an estimated $3.6 billion but would leave the state in a much more difficult financial position for the 2027-29 budget. When factoring in all spending and revenues, the plan creates a deficit lawmakers would have to address if they agreed to fund it completely by making cuts to key services and programs. The $119 billion plan comes as Evers considers whether to seek a third term as governor in 2026. Evers' plan would draw down the state's roughly $4.3 billion surplus, said Dale Knapp, director of Forward Analytics, the nonpartisan research arm of the Wisconsin Counties Association. The surplus wouldn't entirely be depleted in this two-year budget cycle, but it would be brought down to about $646 million at the end of the 2027 fiscal year. More: Tony Evers says he'll veto state budget if GOP requires state workers to return to office Further down the road, the state would be short about $1.6 billion by the end of the 2028 fiscal year and nearly $4 billion by the end of the 2029 fiscal year. That's assuming tax revenues stay the same. 'It does create some challenges for the next budget,' he said. 'When you're looking at an ending balance, essentially, of negative $4 billion, it tells you that they're going to be starting in a hole heading into that next budget.' Knapp recalled the state going from budget to budget with no extra money in the 2000s. 'It's really hard to budget in those situations, so we really want to avoid that if we can,' he said. The budget isn't just a financial document, he noted, but also a chance for Evers to make a 'statement about what his priorities are' like education, child care and tax relief. 'In the end, the Republicans and the Democrats are going to have to get together to get this budget done in some way,' Knapp said. More: A more evenly split state Legislature will convene next year. Will it lead to compromise? In 2023, Evers pitched a $104 billion budget that, if approved in full, would also have left the state with a structural deficit. Republicans rewrote the spending plan and ended with a smaller but still substantial projected deficit. The final state budget signed into law after a series of partial vetoes from Evers spent $2.8 billion more than revenues were expected to generate over the two years. Britt Cudaback, spokeswoman for Evers, said the governor's plan "makes significant investments in our kids and our schools, lowers costs for working families, seniors, and veterans, and provides nearly $2 billion in tax relief to help prevent property tax increases" while leaving a smaller deficit than the state budget plan Republican lawmakers passed in 2023. Cudaback said the budget also maintains about a projected $646 million balance in the state's general fund "so the state can respond to reckless federal cuts to programs Wisconsinites rely upon every day." More: Gov. Tony Evers takes aim at Trump in address focused on child care, new gun laws "Gov. Evers has consistently proposed budgets that prove the state can both make the responsible, pragmatic investments we need to, like supporting public education at every level, while still providing real, sustainable, and targeted tax relief to middle-class families, and this budget is no exception," she said in a statement. "The governor believes we must find ways to invest in our state's needs while staying within our means and finding ways to save where we can, and he's proposing a budget that balances these important obligations." Joint Committee on Finance co-chairman Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, called the governor's budget "reckless" and "unrealistic and unsustainable." "Republicans will start over and create a responsible budget that returns more money to taxpayers and invests in our priorities without bankrupting our state," he said in a statement. Molly Beck and Hope Karnopp can be reached at and hkarnopp@ This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Evers' proposed budget would create shortfall in the billions by 2029
