Virginia’s budget surplus is projected to end up at about $400 million for the past fiscal year — nearly twice as much as previously estimated.
Gov. Bob McDonnell is scheduled to present the final figures to the money committees of the Virginia General Assembly Thursday morning. Aides said Tuesday that the surplus, including unspent balances saved by state agencies, would total nearly $404 million. They spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to pre-empt the governor’s announcement.
A McDonnell spokeswoman declined to comment.
The governor announced last month that better-than-expected revenue from tax receipts helped contribute to a surplus of at least $220 million. Revenues were down 0.6 percent, better than the projected 2.3 percent decline.
That $220 million is estimated to increase to about $230 million, said Robert Vaughn, staff director for the House Appropriations Committee. About $82.3 million of the surplus will go toward bonuses for state workers and about $20 million will go toward education, he said.
In January, the General Assembly was staring at a $1.8 billion shortfall for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ended June 30. As such, the General Assembly tried to be conservative in its revenue forecasting, said Del. Kirk Cox, R-Chesterfield, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
The fact that the 3 percent employee bonuses were contingent on a surplus probably helped to trim government both last year and this year, he said.
Despite the rosy projections, though, the state will defer $620 million in payments to the Virginia Retirement System, the state’s $50 billion employee retirement fund, in fiscal 2011 and 2012 — to be paid back over 10 years with 7.5 percent interest. The state deferred nearly $140 million in VRS payments in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Virginia also will reap $540 million from the approximately $28 billion in state aid signed into law by President Obama last week. About $290 million will go toward Medicaid funding, and about $250 million will go toward public education.
The governor’s office has estimated that the federal health care overhaul, passed in March, will cost the state $1.5 billion through 2022.
