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Revenue Report Shows Economic Improvement

Legislative Service Office

Wyoming’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group says that Wyoming’s income is slightly increasing and is $141 million over its January forecast.   

The report indicates increases in such things as interest income, sales tax, and oil revenues. Lawmakers use the CREG forecast to craft the state budget. A lot of that increase is already in hand due to end of the fiscal year revenue collections. 

The report says while lawmakers will have more money to spend, the economy is recovering very slowly. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Bruce Burns said it’s better news than they faced a few months ago, but it’s not great news.

“I think what it does indicate though, and I think there’s very little argument about this, is that we’re looking at a new reality. We are not going to be getting back to the revenues we had five or six years ago.”

House Appropriations Chairman Bob Nicholas added that means that lawmakers will need to make more budget cuts or continue to borrow money from reserve accounts. Nicholas said the long-term revenue forecast is not that rosy. 

“If you look at the projections for the income for fiscal year 2019-2020, our ongoing income or revenues are still declining.”

The CREG report also shows that the state still needs to find a way to fund school construction. 

Bob Beck retired from Wyoming Public Media after serving as News Director of Wyoming Public Radio for 34 years. During his time as News Director WPR has won over 100 national, regional and state news awards.
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