CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state bested estimates for revenue collections in July by $11 million.
A breakdown of the numbers shows growth in personal income tax and consumer sales tax. Both were ahead of estimates by $11 million each but severance tax collections missed the estimate by $12 million.
State Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson said severance taxes performed well last year and local governments receive their payout in arrears on July 1 so that impacted the collection number.
“That was a big number and again it’s in arrears. Last year’s coal severance tax collections were higher than expected so that was a big outflow of money,” Nelson said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
The state collected a total of $388 million in taxes in July but that was less than $1 million when compared with last July.
“This July was up only $700,000 from the prior year,” Nelson said. “Year over year we’re basically flat in our collections.”
The state officially ended the last fiscal year on June 30 with a $390 million surplus. Nelson said $245 million is already spoken for in the new budget including $125 million for roads, $60 million for the Hope Scholarship and $5 million for flood resiliency.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey and the legislature will have $170 million in unappropriated surplus funds to decide how it should be used.