Vermont Business Magazine After the "April Surprise" for Vermont state tax revenues (a record setting month which pushed the fiscal year ahead of targets) the May numbers fell back. Still General Fund totals are more than $20 million ahead with one month left in the fiscal year. The Transportation and Education funds were near their monthly targets. The Transportation Fund remained slightly above annual expectations, while the Education Fund remained slightly below.
Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson released today the preliminary May fiscal year (FY) 2015 revenue results for the General, Transportation, and Education Funds. The revenue targets are based on the Consensus Revenue Forecast adopted by the Vermont Emergency Board on January 20, 2015.
Preliminary General Fund (GF) revenues totaled $67.91 million for May 2015, -$5.23 million or –7.16% short of the monthly tar-get. Year-to-date, GF receipts stand at $1,253.77 million, +$21.22 million or +1.72% above the cumulative target. The results are +$50.91 million or +4.23% above the year-to-date results of the prior fiscal year (FY 2014).
Secretary Johnson said, “As we predicted, May’s below target results consumed some of the revenue cushion remaining at the end of April. Underperformance in PI Withholding, PI Other, and Corporate, as compared to target, was responsible for the majority of the shortfall. The consumption taxes (Sales & Use and Rooms & Meals) showed above target result for May by +0.63% and 3.22%, respectively. Another contributor to the shortfall, was the always volatile Inheritance/Estate Tax which was -$2.18 million or –113.93% below target for the month.”
The Transportation Fund (TF) receipts were above target for the month by +$0.07 million and +0.29%, resulting in continued above target year-to-date revenues. On a cumulative basis, TF revenues were $232.60 million, +$0.22 million or +0.09% ahead of the cu-mulative target. Compared to the prior fiscal year (FY 2014), TF revenues were +$7.46 million or 3.31% ahead.
The Education Fund (EF) fell slightly below the monthly target for May 2015 due to shortfalls in both Motor Vehicle Purchase & Use Tax and the Lottery Transfer. Preliminary EF revenue finished at $13.39 million, -$0.61 million, or –4.33%, below its monthly target. Year-to-date EF revenues were $164.14 million or - 0.68% behind the cumulative target. As compared to the prior fiscal year, preliminary May EF results were +$4.95 million or +3.11% higher than the same period for FY 2014.
The Secretary concluded, “We expected a portion of our prior month’s cushion would be needed to cover May. However, we feel the remaining cushion of $21 million should be sufficient to ensure meeting the full-year revenue target for fiscal year 2015. We will be watching June receipts closely until the year has officially closed on June 30, 2015.”
