CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson said the state’s $245 Million surplus in revenue for the fiscal year can be attributed to three key areas of collection.
“It was primarily driven by income tax, both personal and net, severance taxes, and our interest income was almost $85 Million above budget,” said Nelson in an appearance on MetroNews Talkline.
Revenue figures indicated the state brought in $5.519 Billion, which was 105 percent of the projection for the year.
The surplus money is eligible for a second appropriation, but Nelson noted part of it is already spoken for.
“I will note in the back of this year’s ’26 Budget, the first $100 Million is going to be dedicated to roads. The Governor signed that into law,” he said.
He added severance tax collections can be a roller coaster ride and are often difficult to predict year in and year out. He said currently with the high temperature days the state’s power plants, fueled by both coal and natural gas, are running wide open which increases demand for both. However, he said negatively impacting those collections is the temporary shutdown of the Leer South Mine in Barbour County over a mine fire for the latter half of the fiscal year.
He added, the income tax collections were a positive reflection of the state’s economy.
“We have monthly withholdings and that’s a good indication of how our employment base is and the trends in receipts are employees are receiving,” he said.
The final bills are still coming in before the fiscal year can be officially wrapped up by August first, but Nelson didn’t think the final number would be much off the $245 Million dollars over estimate.