Arkansas budget surplus grows to nearly $717M for year

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas’ finance office on Tuesday said the state’s surplus for the current fiscal year has grown to nearly $717 million.

The Department of Finance and Administration said the state’s net available general revenue for the fiscal year that began July 1 now totals nearly $5.5 billion. That’s more than $651 million more than the state reported at the same time a year ago, the department said.

The state’s net revenue in April totaled nearly $780 million, which was $242 million above the same month last year and nearly $167 million more than was forecast.

The department said net available revenue was above forecast in nearly all major tax categories last month. Individual income tax collections were $2.3 million above forecast, while sales tax collections were $81.7 million above forecast.

Corporate income tax collections were $63.2 million above forecast.