Money to pay for state programs and services is coming in at a slightly better rate than it was at this time last year. But state budget director Linda Luebbering says it needs to be even better than that to pay all the bills in this year’s budget. “Across all of our revenue sources, we are up two percent compared to last fiscal year. In order to meet our revenue estimate for the year, we need to be up just under three percent,” she says.
Sales and use taxes are about three-and-a-half percent below last year’s numbers through November.
Luebbering is not optimistic the tax income will hit targets established to pay for everything in this year’s budget.
That’s $20-milion the state will not be collecting. The state fiscal year runs through next June.