Report: State posts $129M surplus

For the third straight year, the Commonwealth of Virginia has reached the end of the fiscal year with a revenue surplus.

The state concluded fiscal-year 2012 with an approximately $129.2 million surplus from general fund revenue collections and transfers. Total revenue collections rose by 5.4 percent in FY 2012, ahead of the revised revenue forecast 4.5 percent growth. This marks the second straight year that revenue growth has exceeded 5 percent in Virginia.

The main drivers of the revenue increase were growth in individual income tax receipts from payroll withholding, lower individual income tax refunds and higher than expected sales and corporate income tax collections. A comprehensive breakdown of the FY 2012 revenue surplus is attached to this press release.

Revenue and transfers make up one-half of the overall FY 2012 surplus number. The other half comes from savings in state government. The final FY 2012 surplus tally will not be available until mid-August after final tabulations of appropriation savings recognized through greater operational efficiencies and incentives to control spending throughout state government are calculated.

It is the third fiscal year in a row that Virginia has concluded the fiscal year with a revenue surplus. In FY 2010 the revenue surplus for the year was $228 million. The final FY 2010 surplus, including savings, was $403 million. In FY 2011, the revenue surplus was $311 million, and the final surplus, including savings, was $544.8 million.

Total revenues have now returned to the level reached in FY 2008, an indication of continued recovery from the recession that struck the country in recent years.