Virginia’s budget revenue is outpacing expectations, driven in part by Richmond’s booming economy, but the state already faces demand for greater spending on core public services than it has money to pay.
With almost $1.7 billion in additional revenue available for the next two-year budget, Virginia already has a list of needs that would cost about $210 million more than the state expects to generate, members of the House Appropriations Committee heard from their staff at the opening of a two-day annual retreat here on Tuesday.
The good news came from the administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, which announced on Tuesday afternoon that state revenues grew by 7.7 percent in October over the same month a year ago. The increase boosts revenue growth to 4.9 percent for the first four months of the fiscal year, more than 2 percentage points ahead of the annual forecast of 2.7 percent.
