Delaware has about $100 million more than it thought it would last December. That’s a far cry from where the state was a year ago.
Last year at this time, lawmakers were trying to find more than $350 million to fill a revenue shortfall. This year, the state’s in the black with room to spare.
Finance Secretary Rick Geisenberger said some of the surplus is due to an increase in personal income growth, a result of federal tax code changes. The state expects to take in an additional $24 million this current year and nearly $48 million in fiscal year 2019.
“You know, we should remain cautious about our spending and what we build into our base budget, but it does appear to have some additional revenue that can be available for potentially for some one-time investments or reduction of debt,” he said.
But Geisenberger said the rest of the new revenue comes from abandon property claims.
“Which is not a particularly reliable revenue source to build into your base budget," he said. "It’s certainly available for one-time expenditures.”
DEFAC also projects a decline in corporate income tax because of state tax credits and changes by former Gov. Jack Markell that adjust how corporate income tax is calculated. The federal tax law also permanently cuts corporate tax rates.
