CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state finished the fiscal year roughly $1.3 billion in tax revenue collected compared to estimates.
The state Senate Finance Committee released June collection numbers along with fiscal year wrap-up numbers Friday.
West Virginia collected $662.4 million in revenue in June which was $201million above the estimate for the month.
The end of June brought the end of the fiscal year and the numbers show the state at $1.318 billion above the estimate for the budget year.
State Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy predicted a strong finish when he appeared before state lawmakers on June 13.
“We will be at least $1.2 billion above projection for this fiscal year. Think about that for a minute,” Hardy told lawmakers. “That’s $100 million a month on average that we have been above projection for the fiscal year we’re wrapping up.”
The governor’s office and state legislature have already approved the use of $800 million of the revenue surplus in the next state budget. That would leave about $500 million open to other allocations.
“There’s a lot of decision-making that will need to be done,” Hardy said.
It’s anticipated Gov. Jim Justice will call a special session of the legislature sometime later this summer to deal with the additional revenue.
MORE See Senate Finance Committee report here
Severance taxes collections continue to fuel the revenue surplus. The state reports $120 million came in for taxes related to coal, oil and natural gas for the month. That exceeded the estimate for the month by more than $80 million. Severance tax collections for the fiscal year exceeded estimates by 240% or $449 million above the estimate for the year.
The state predicted it would collect $319.7 million in severance taxes over the last 12 months when it actually took in $768.7 million.
June numbers also included Personal Income Tax above collections by more than $31 million for the month. Consumer Sales Tax also showed a collection surplus for the month of around $31 million.