The State of West Virginia’s monthly revenue significantly exceeded estimates for both the month of September and the year-to-date performance.
The state’s general revenue collections for the month exceeded the monthly estimate by nearly $43.7 million.
Collections for the month totaled $585,698,090. That exceeded the monthly estimate of $542,016,000.
Moreover, September collections were 3.2% above receipts from the same month the prior year.
“I’m encouraged by the State’s financial performance over the first quarter of this year,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said. “We are beginning to see the results of difficult decisions I made earlier in the year – partnering with the Legislature to enact a fiscally conservative budget, and driving program efficiencies across my administration.
“While the State still faces some long-term budget challenges and other fiscal uncertainties, I am optimistic that our hard work will result in West Virginia being on a solid financial trajectory moving forward and allow us to return more money back to our people.”
A financial move worth noting is that the September collection total reflects the repayment of a $79,000,000 loan from the Rainy Day Fund that provided the state with cushion to start the fiscal year.
That is an annual loan used to ensure the state has funds to cover expenses before adequate funds are collected, and it must be repaid by the end of September.
Total year to date collections for the state are $1.371 billion.
That figure exceeded the year to date estimate of nearly $1.310 billion by about $61.0 million.
Compared to the prior year’s collections at this point, the state is 4.9% ahead.
“We’ve got the first quarter of the year behind us,” state Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson said on MetroNews Talkline. “September, we are very excited about and positive.”
For the month, most major tax categories exceeded their monthly and cumulative estimates.
“All areas of collections from consumer sales tax, corporate, interest and even tobacco were up during the month of September,” Nelson said.
“So we’re pretty excited about where we are, and we’ve got some momentum and steam behind us right now.”
Personal income tax collections totaled $247.6 million in September, which was $15.8 million above estimate. Year-to-date collections of $539.1 million were $29.9 million above the estimate and 1.1% above the prior year’s receipts. It’s worth noting that current tax rates are nearly 6% lower than tax rates in place one year ago.
Consumer sales tax collections totaled $173 million in September. September collections were $7.2 million above the estimate and 4.8%, ahead of prior September collections. Cumulative collections of $489.6 million were $17 million above the cumulative estimate and 15.5% ahead of collections from the prior year.
Severance tax collections in September totaled $51.7 million, which was $16.3 million above estimate and $6.1 million more than prior September receipts.
Year-to-date severance tax collections of $82.2 million were $8.0 million, or 10.8%, ahead of the prior year’s receipts. But cumulative collections of severance taxes, which are fluid and hard to predict, were $8.1million below the cumulative estimate.
“These numbers for September are great,” said Senate Finance Chairman Jason Barrett, R-Putnam.
“Monthly collections exceeded estimates by more than $43 million, and we are on strong fiscal footing as we keep moving into the new fiscal year.”