State Comptroller Nancy Wyman today projected the state will end the 2005 fiscal year with a budget surplus of $603.1 million.

Wyman's estimate, based on an overall budget of $13.5 billion, is an increase of $185.3 million over last month's projection. The jump is mainly due to extraordinarily high collections of the income tax, which grew by $110 million over last month as a result of final payments associated with the April 15 filing deadline.

Most of that jump is attributed to payments of the capital gains portion of the income tax tied to improved performance of the financial markets in the final quarter of 2004, Wyman said.

"While the capital gains payments have produced a short-term windfall, I am not convinced that trend will be sustained," Wyman said. "I am concerned that rising interest rates and energy costs could place a drag on overall economic growth for the rest of the fiscal year," which ends June 30.

Collections of the tax that corporations pay on profits also grew by a healthy 13.5 percent in the final quarter of 2004, and increased by an estimated $60 million over the last month.

Wyman also noted that the state gained 2,300 payroll jobs in March, bringing total job growth for the fiscal year to about 17,900.

Connecticut's real estate market remained strong, with existing home sales growing by about 10 percent overall in 2004. New home construction permits, however, dropped modestly in the first three months of calendar 2005.