West Virginia ended the last fiscal year with a healthy budget surplus and started the new fiscal year with a decent cushion.
State officials made announcements about both fiscal milemarkers on Friday.
The State of West Virginia closed fiscal 2025 with a total year-end surplus of $338.5 million, according to an announcement by the Morrisey administration.
The administration described an effort toward responsible fiscal management to contribute to the state’s financial performance.
“I am pleased that the decisions we’ve made these past six months are allowing the State to start the new Fiscal Year in such a strong financial position,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said.
A large percentage of the surplus has already been obligated. For example, $100 million for secondary road maintenance was obligated through the Legislature’s budgeting process and the governor’s approval.
Morrisey noted the state still faces significant financial challenges for future budgets — including insurance costs for public employees PEIA costs; more costs as more families opt to use the Hope Scholarship for education costs outside public school systems; and additional potential costs coming from legislation out of Washington, D.C.
“The good news is that our early decisions have positioned West Virginia to face those challenges head on,” Morrisey said. “We will be ready for what’s ahead and once we get our fiscal house in order for the next few years, we will be looking for new tax cuts to help our state better compete with other states that we touch.”
West Virginia’s fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30 each year.
So the state also released figures today for the first month of the new fiscal year.
For July, collections were $22.3 million above estimate.
The state took in $388 million — ahead of the monthly estimate of $365.9 million.
State officials said that amounted to 15.8% ahead of the prior year’s receipts for the same month.
The July collections exclude $79.0 million borrowed from the state’s Rainy Day Fund at the beginning of the year. The state annually borrows such funds for cash flow purposes and statutorily must repay the funds before the end of October.
“I can say across the board, all areas were up, with the exception of consumer sales tax, which was slightly below estimate. And every category was up over the prior July year,” state Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson said on MetroNews Talkline.