In Norse mythology, the god Odin relied on his raven, Muninn (meaning memory), to fly across the world and bring back information. The Utah Legislature now boasts their own version of this valuable bird—a powerful new application designed to return critical data on the state’s financial health.
Formally launched by the Legislative Fiscal Analyst (LFA) during the November Executive Appropriations Committee meeting, Muninn is an interactive tool designed to provide clarity amidst a complex economic landscape. The application’s robust dataset along with carefully designed features may just leave you saying:
What Muninn Sees
Currently, navigating our economy may feel like “uncertainty” is the only certainty. For those responsible for crafting Utah’s budget, this raises critical questions about what trends truly matter. Enter Muninn. The monitoring application moves beyond the static monthly snapshots of the past to deliver dynamic, transparent, and actionable revenue tracking. Armed with the state administered revenue and tax accounting database, Muninn curates a wealth of knowledge and packages the information in an easy to interpret format.
Just as its namesake observed the world, the Muninn app offers a comprehensive view of state finances through several key features:
- Latest Data: The application provides daily updates on major state revenue sources, adjusted for timing anomalies like holidays to ensure consistent comparisons. This frequency provides users with a complete picture that accommodates events like delayed filings, an improvement on the previous static view.
- Looking Ahead: Users can access projections and overlay the latest Consensus Forecast, allowing for an immediate comparison between actual collections and future predictions.
- Historical Memory: True to its name, Muninn offers year-to-date comparisons stretching back to 2007, providing the historical context needed to evaluate if current trends are typical or exceptional.
- Enhanced Vision: The data focuses on the unrestricted portion of collections—the actual funds available for discretionary appropriations.
Not a Data Scientist? No Problem.
Recognizing that complex financial data can be intimidating, LFA has built an interactive demonstration specifically for first-time users.
Accessible via the “Demo” tab, this feature is more than just a technical walkthrough; it offers a guided journey through the state’s revenue analysis. It provides the background context on how the analysis works and the LFA’s journey to implement it, rather than just showing you where to click. The tutorial is designed to build your knowledge incrementally, ensuring that by the time you reach the live data, you understand exactly what you are looking at. For the best experience, the team recommends viewing this visual-heavy demo on a larger screen, such as a tablet or desktop. For an alternative walkthrough of Munin, check out this presentation from legislative economists.
The November Snapshot
As stated previously, past and future versions of the revenue snapshot are now housed within the application, available here: https://revapp.utleg.gov/snapshot. The app uses simple weather icons to show how revenue sources are performing against their projections. For November, Muninn has returned with the latest data, and the forecast is looking cloudy with a chance of budget cuts.
General Fund – ☀️ Sunny: The General Fund is currently outperforming expectations. While overall growth is negative (-5.66%), it is holding up better than the projected -6.03% decline. This resilience is largely driven by Sales Tax collections, which are tracking ‘partly cloudy’ (within the projected range).
Income Tax Fund – ⛈️ Stormy: Here is where the clouds gather. The Income Tax Fund is currently ‘stormy,’ meaning it is tracking below its projected range. Corporate Tax collections are down significantly (-71.04%), and Net Withholding is also missing its positive growth target.
Transportation Fund – ☀️ Sunny: This fund is a bright spot, showing strong year-over-year growth of 11.51%, significantly beating the projected 3.11% target.
Overall Outlook – ☁️ Cloudy: When you combine the resilience of the General Fund with the struggles of the Income Tax Fund, the overall state revenue picture is ‘cloudy’. Total collections are tracking below the forecasted path, signaling that caution is needed as we move forward into budget season.
Muninn provides context to point-in-time estimates, providing a fuller picture for revenue collections. Improved user experience and new features are already in the works, including how specific collections relate to the broader state economy. The application aims to help policymakers monitor Utah’s budget stability, assist legislators in asking the right questions, and empower constituents with the transparency they deserve.