Proving it’s never too early to start worrying about the next state budget, a new report issued this week indicates tax collections for the past month were better than projected.
In total, collections are up 1 percent since the February revenue forecast, which the Legislature used to build the supplemental budget approved yesterday. Such reports often preview where the next forecast might be headed.
And those forecasts are important in order to keep the state in the green until the Legislature can write the next two-year budget when it reconvenes in January.
The rewrite of the budget for the current two-year budget cycle approved this week left $319 million in reserve. But only $54 million of that is unrestricted. A few positive forecasts would increase the size of that buffer and head off any need for across the board reductions before the Legislature reconvenes.
The next forecast is due for release on June 20.