Web posted
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
State revenues fall $33M short in December
By JOHN HANNA
Associated Press Writer
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- State officials received some bad financial news just before the start of the 2008 legislative session.
Revenue collections for December fell $33.3 million short of expectations, according to a report released Tuesday by the Kansas Legislative Research Department.
The department's report said legislators and others should be careful not to read too much into a single month's revenue collections, but Senate President Steve Morris acknowledged, ''That's not particularly good news.''
''If we start to see a trend over several months, I'll be concerned,'' said Morris, a Hugoton Republican.
The state expected to collect about $571 million in general revenues during the month, but took in only $538 million. The difference is nearly 6 percent.
It was more than enough to erase the small surplus the state had collected from July 1, when the 2008 fiscal year began, through November. For the first half of the fiscal year, revenues were $27.6 million below expectations.
From July 1 through Dec. 31, the state collected a little less than $2.54 billion in revenues. A financial forecast issued by state officials and university economists in November had predicted collections of more than $2.56 billion.
Governors and legislators use the financial forecasts in drafting budgets. The Legislature opens its 2008 session Monday, and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius plans to outline her proposed budget the next day.
If revenues continue to fall short of expectations, a tighter spending plan for state government is likely.
''We shouldn't place too much emphasis on one month's numbers, but it is something we should watch closely,'' said State Budget Director Duane Goossen.
Individual income tax collections in December, at $222.4 million, were $12.6 million less than expected, a difference of more than 5 percent.
Corporate income tax collections for the month were even more disappointing. At $57.5 million, they fell $17.5 million -- or 23 percent -- short of expectations.
However, legislative researchers said the issue could be the processing of tax payments. That means collections easily could rebound in January, they said.
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