Delaware’s financial picture continues to look brighter for the next fiscal year.
The Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council’s (DEFAC) June revenue estimate is up $47.5 million over May.
But this latest bump in projected revenue isn’t a result of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Delaware to expand sports betting.
Finance Secretary Rick Geisenberger said that will not likely contribute much to the state’s bottom line.
“You know, the early signs are that the amount of sports betting has increased, but the margins are much, much lower in a straight sports bet than in a parlay bet,” he said.
Geisenberger said the new numbers reflect personal income tax revenue trending up.
The new numbers put First State just over $250 million ahead of where it was in September when planning for this budget cycle began, and is about $480 million more then it spent in the current FY 18 budget.
But the Office of Management and Budget Director Mike Jackson said he’s still preaching restraint to state lawmakers.
“Try and keep the future budget manageable, apply one-time resources to one-time initiatives and much of what the Joint Finance Committee has already done through its bill drafting process - of continuing that through the end of June,” he said.
The Joint Finance Committee voted to hold back an additional 1 percent of 2019 revenue for fiscal year 2020 by spending just 97 percent of what’s available.
