The Department of Revenue and the Independent Fiscal Office released information Thursday on how state revenue collections matched up with expectations, and both reported that January revenue numbers exceeded expectations.

Seeking to take out what he sees as the politics of forecasting future revenue, Rep. Seth Grove (R-York) recently introduced two bills that would reform how the Commonwealth arrives at its annual revenue estimate and what information the Independent Fiscal Office is able to see when determining its revenue forecasts and provides independent information to the legislature about state finances.

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue and the Independent Fiscal Office each reported this week that state General Fund revenue collections for the month of December rang in at around $2.8 billion.

 

However, that’s where it appears agreement stops between two of the Commonwealth’s top fiscal forecasters.

Wolf administration Budget Sec. Randy Albright delivered the mid-year budget briefing Thursday, where he projected a year-end surplus potentially as high as $31.2 million on top of a $10 million transfer to the Commonwealth’s Rainy Day Fund.

The Legislative Audit Advisory commission released the audit of the General Assembly’s finances for FY 2016-2017, reporting that the legislature and its associated agencies have combined reserves of $95 million.

The reserves represent surpluses over the $325 million appropriated to the General Assembly in FY 2016-2017.