State Ends Fiscal Year With $78.7 Million Surplus

Arkansas ended its fiscal year on June 30 with a $78.7 million surplus as gross general revenues exceeded $6.2 billion and net general revenues cleared $5 billion.

Arkansas’ current fiscal year ended on June 30, 2014.

Net general revenues — which are available funds after mandatory expenses are taken off the top line — totaled $5.022 billion, roughly $4.5 million, or 0.1%, below last year’s total net.

“The fiscal year ended above forecast and above the budgeted amount as a result of stable collections in gross revenue and lower-than-expected payouts from gross general revenue in Individual Income tax refunds and other deductions,” noted John Shellnut, director of the state’s Office of Economic Analysis.

He noted that an expected shift in personal income tax collections from federal tax code changes was apparent in the numbers. Shellnut also pointed to sales and use tax collections, which grew by 2.3% — less than the projected 3.9% growth.

“The difference amounted to a shortfall of $34.6 million or -1.6% compared to forecast,” he said. “This was more than offset by the gains in income tax components and smaller revenue sources.”

A rundown of major income categories for the year is as follows:

• Fiscal Year 2014 Individual Income Taxes: Fiscal year 2014 individual income tax collections total $3.11 billion, $33.2 million or -1.1 percent below FY 2013 collections and $10.0 million or 0.3 percent above forecast.
• Fiscal Year 2014 Corporate Income Taxes: Fiscal year corporate revenues total $440.2 million, an increase of $9.1 million or 2.1 percent above FY 2013. Collections came in $11.2 million or 2.6 percent above forecast.
• Fiscal Year 2014 Sales and Use Collections: Fiscal year 2014 Sales and Use tax collections total $2.17 billion, an increase of $48.6 million or 2.3 percent over FY 2013 and $34.6 million or -1.6 percent below forecast.

Among smaller collections categories, tobacco tax collections were below forecast and below year ago collections. Insurance, Gaming, and Miscellaneous taxes were notably above forecast and year ago levels, Shellnut reported.

Other notable departures from forecast occurred in School Desegregation payments and Economic Development Incentive Fund payouts.

“Both categories of ‘below the line expenditures’ were less than expected and added to net available funds as a result,” he said.

You can access the full year-end report here.