Arkansas ends gloomy fiscal year with signs toward recovery; revenues above forecast by $61M

Ark. ends gloomy fiscal year with sign of recovery

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas ended its gloomy fiscal year with more revenue coming in than expected and headed toward economic recovery, state finance officials said Friday.

Sales tax collections were up in May and June, the last two months of fiscal year 2010, which is helping push the state out of a recession and on the path to recovery, officials said. The Department of Finance and Administration said net available revenues for the fiscal year that ended Wednesday were $111.5 million below last year, but $61.4 million above forecast.

“It’s really good news that we have come in well over budget, well over forecast,” said Richard Weiss, director of the Department of Finance and Administration. “It looks like we’re on the path to recovery. Even though it’s going to be slow and jittery, it’s nonetheless an excellent sign.”

Net available revenues in June were $418.3 million — or $23 million above forecast. Individual income tax collections were $224.5 million, above forecast by 6.6 percent. Corporate income tax collections were $57.4 million, or 36.1 percent above forecast. Sales tax collections in June were $164.4 million, up 3.9 percent from last year and above forecast by 2 percent.

“We have had two months of good collections, coming in stronger than we had forecast,” Weiss said. “We feel the state’s really in a better place.”

Gov. Mike Beebe, in his monthly radio address, praised the state’s “conservative budgeting and cautious spending.” In May, the state revised its forecast to reduce the amount it expected to receive in revenues for fiscal year 2010, and then state used one-time funds to make up the $41 million shortfall.

“The national picture shows us to be one of only a handful of states in the stable budget position we enjoy now,” Beebe said. “As economic conditions improve, Arkansas will be out in front as America returns to prosperity.”