By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — State revenues fell $55.8 million short of projections last month and were below September 2008’s revenues in virtually every category, state finance officials said today.
“It’s disappointing, very disappointing. It’s obviously cause for some concern,” said Richard Weiss, director of the state Department of Finance and Administration.
Gov. Mike Beebe said he has asked finance officials to conduct an in-depth analysis of the budget and determine whether the forecast of how much money the state will collect in the fiscal year needs to be lowered.
“State government is no different than your household or a business or anything else,” Beebe said. “We will live within our means. If we have to cut back, we’ll do the things on the state level that our taxpayers have to do.”
Net available revenues in September totaled $410.3 million, which was 12 percent below the September forecast and down $71 million, or 14.8 percent, from September 2008, DF&A reported.
Gross receipts, mostly from sales tax collections, totaled $162.7 million, a decrease of $20.8 million from last year and $23.2 million below forecast.
Individual income tax collections brought in $226.8 million, a $39.5 million drop from last year and $25.8 million below forecast.
Corporate income tax collections totaled $45.7 million, an $18.3 million decrease from last year and $17.8 million below forecast.
Signs that the economy was recovering had led finance officials to expect a much better report, according to Weiss.
“It’s a report that’s contrary to a lot of things that we have been saying. We’re going to have to spend some time digging into it,” he said.
Asked whether he expected DF&A to lower the forecast, which could mean funding cuts for some agencies, Weiss said that was a possibility, but officials would not rush to a decision.
“Last year at this time, everybody was saying that we needed to raise the forecast,” he said.
——
Stephens Media reporter Lewis Delavan contributed to this report.
