State Comptroller Nancy Wyman announced today that the state will end the fiscal year with an estimated unappropriated budget surplus of $260.9 million.

In her monthly projection to the Governor, Wyman said the surplus would have reached a record $543.9 million if $283 million of it had not been appropriated for various spending initiatives.

The major programs funded by the $283 million appropriation from the surplus include $116.5 million for taxpayer rebates; $80 million for the Year 2000 computer conversion; $40 million for additional payments to towns; $32 million for timely payment of Medicaid billings and $8 million for additional tax relief for the elderly.

The remaining unappropriated surplus of $260.9 million will be allocated at the end of the fiscal year as follows:

• $161.7 million will be put into the state's emergency Rainy Day Fund, filling it to its statutory level of $498.6 million, or 5% of net General Fund appropriations.
• $99.2 million will be used for payment on the state's bonded debt of $9.2 billion - the highest per-capita bonded debt in the nation. New bond authorizations for the next fiscal year will add another $1.2 billion to the bill.

In her projection last month, Wyman had estimated a year-end surplus of $216.9 million. The increase to the current expected surplus of $260.9 million, she said, is attributed to higher than anticipated revenues - driven by a strong national economy - that continue to offset additional spending.

Net tax receipts are expected to end the year $770 million higher than originally budgeted. The largest contributors to the increased revenues are the income tax net of refunds ($567.9 million over budget), the sales tax ($80.5 million over budget), and the inheritance tax ($80.5 million over budget).

Wyman said the income tax receipts are being driven by the extraordinary performance of the stock market, as well as Connecticut's low unemployment rate (3.9 percent) and unexpectedly strong growth in weekly earnings (up 4.8 percent over this time last year).

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For Immediate Release
July 1, 1998
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