Gov. Justice announces record general revenue collections, reports that year end surplus will be in excess of $20 million

7/2/2018

CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced today that the State of West Virginia finished Fiscal Year 2018 with net collections of $4.245 billion which is $20.2 million ahead of estimate. The numbers for FY 2018 represent the highest general revenue collection in state history.

The final report on the budget surplus will be determined at the end of July and should be more than $28 million, Gov. Justice said.

June General Revenue collections finished nearly $4.7 million above estimate for the month. Personal Income Tax increased by over 6% from last year.

The Personal Income Tax increase is a “very strong indicator of employment growth and the private sector employment numbers improved substantially as well,” Gov. Justice added.

The last time the state finished a budget cycle with a surplus, without mid-year budget cuts, was FY 2012, six years ago.

FY 2018 Revenue Summary Highlights

Net collections of more than $4.245 billion were $20.2 million ahead of estimate.
- Personal Income Tax collections were nearly $60 million above estimate and roughly 6% ahead of last year
- Insurance Premium Tax collections were $3.1 million above estimate and 3.4% ahead of last year
- Corporation Net Income Tax collections were nearly $1.1 million above estimate and 5.4% below prior year receipts
- Consumer Sales Tax collections were more than 2.0% above prior year receipts and more than 99% of the estimate for the year
- Severance Tax collections were 7.8% ahead of last year and nearly 96% of the estimate for the year
- Revenue growth was roughly 2% (more than $78.7 million) for the year prior to any adjustments for various one-time special revenue transfers and otherwise up 3.7%

The final year-end surplus determined after the close of July should be more than $28 million.
- The revenue surplus is $20.2 million
- State also has $1.5 million in unappropriated surplus for this year
- Expenditure expirations at the end of July usually total more than $10 million ($12 million last year). We conservatively assume $7 million for the current year
- Total projected year-end surplus should be at least $28.7 million with slightly less than $28 million necessary to fully fund all surplus appropriations in the Budget Bill

June General Revenue Fund collections were nearly $4.7 million above estimate for the month

For details on other revenues, go to www.budget.wv.gov/reportsandcharts/revenuereports

Contact Information

Butch Antolini, Butch.Antolini@wv.gov