State revenue for July fell $11.8 million below projections, the third straight month of red ink for the state, according to Capitol News Service.
Mike Allen, research director at Maine Revenue Services, told the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee yesterday that income and sales taxes are drastically lower than last year, and since 1975, the state has not “had a 12-month period where we saw a negative 5% in the sales tax line.” State legislators told the news service the revenues for July, though below projections, were better than they had anticipated.
On top of lost revenues, legislators must cut $30 million in the second year of the biennial 2010-2011 budget, as well as offset a $50 million hole in the current budget year that resulted from shifting cash reserves to the budget year that ended June 30, the news service reported. The Appropriations Committee plans to meet more frequently this fall to discuss budget cuts the full Legislature can consider in January.
