WV Revenue Collections Down to Start the New Year
West Virginia Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow says that year ended last month with a surplus of $101.9 million.
That figure is in line with what state officials were predicting three months ago.
“Surplus appropriations for Medicaid and other surplus appropriations will be met,“ said Muchow.
“The Rainy Day Fund will be fully plenished and there will be a little bit of residual left over at the end of the day.“
Although iscal year 2012 ended on a high note, fiscal year 2013 started sour.
Revenues for the month of July were $2.5 million below estimates.
Muchow says personal income tax collections were up by $4 million for the month, but other areas lagged.
Sales tax collections missed projections by $3.3 million after June sales were not particularly robust and, Muchow says, the Derecho at the end of the month did not help.
Overall, Muchow says the Derecho’s impact on the revenues was negligible.
“We’ll find out in August, but I suspect it will have some impact on tax collections,“ he said.
“The cleanup efforts offset some of that impact and we had to ultimately restock our refrigerators, so probably it’s a wash.“
Also coming in below estimates for July were severance tax collections which were $4.6 million off estimates due to continuing difficulty in the mining industry.
