By Lacie Pierson, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.VA. — Gov. Jim Justice on Monday announced that West Virginia exceeded revenue expectations for December 2021 by $124.4 million. He did not mention that the surplus is largely the result of lowered expectations on key revenue markers, according to State Budget Office report archives.
In total, the state collected $506.8 million in revenue in December, blowing away the $382.4 million the budget office estimated that the state would collect to close out the calendar year and the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2022, which ends June 30.
The $506.8 million eclipses the December 2020 revenue of $382.2 million, which itself was a shortfall from government estimates, according to budget office reports from last year.
The December 2020 revenue collection was comparatively low against the December 2019 collection.
Due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, December 2020 revenue collection was down $46.03 million from the more than $428 million collected the same month in 2019…
