STATE OF CONNECTICUT
NANCY WYMAN COMPTROLLER	OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER 55 ELM STREET HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 06106-1775	MARK OJAKIAN DEPUTY COMPTROLLER

State Comptroller Nancy Wyman today projected that the state will end the 2000 fiscal year with a budget surplus of $470.2 million.

The legislature recently appropriated $196.4 million of the surplus to fund a variety of programs. As required by law, another $35 million will be deposited into the state's emergency "rainy day fund," bringing it to its statutory level of five percent of net General Fund projections, or $564 million.

Those two expenditures leave a remaining net surplus of slightly more than $238.8 million, Wyman said, which will be used for "debt-avoidance" projects related to school construction and wiring schools for the Internet.

Wyman's $470.2 million estimate is $56.8 million higher than last month's projection, mainly due to continuing strong economic growth and unexpectedly high revenues from the income and sales taxes.

The income tax will bring in $275.4 million more than was anticipated, Wyman said, and the sales tax will generate an additional $61.4 million over original estimates.

But while overall revenues are growing at a healthy 5.4 percent, state spending is expected to rise by over 6 percent this fiscal year.

"This is a reversal of the trend of the past five years when average revenue growth outpaced the growth in spending," Wyman said. "Obviously, this gap between revenue and spending cannot be sustained, especially if capital gains receipts begin to moderate. These trends show that state government has to find ways to stabilize the revenue growth and slow the increase in spending."

This fiscal year marks the third in a row that the state's constitutional spending cap was exceeded.

The State Comptroller appreciates input on this and other issues from residents of the state. Please feel free to contact her office by phone - (860) 702-3300; mail - OSC, 55 Elm Street, Hartford, CT 06106; or, via E-mail - osc.opinions@po.state.ct.us

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