State officials are nervously reviewing the data on state tax collections. The state tax revenue that’s been collected through the past 11 months is about 100 million dollars BELOW expectations. Jeff Robinson is a senior fiscal analyst with the Legislative Services Agency. He says “At the end of May, our net revenue growth was 1.2%.” While that’s a low growth rate, Robinson says it is still “positive.” However, the budget is built on 2.8% growth. The difference amounts to about $100-million.

The state’s current budgeting year ends June 30th. Unless there’s a remarkable turnaround in state tax collections during the next four weeks, Governor Reynolds may have to take extraordinary action to ensure the state budget ends the year in the black. Governors do have the authority to withdraw up to 50 million dollars from the state’s cash reserve to cover any deficit.

“While state revenue is currently showing to be below estimates, the state does have a good balance in its reserve funds,” Robinson says. INCOME tax payments to the state have grown modestly in the past 11 months compared to the previous year, but state SALES tax payments have increased less than half-a-percent.

(Radio Iowa)