West Virginia finishes fiscal year with $36M budget surplus

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Gov. Jim Justice says West Virginia finished the fiscal year in June with a $36 million budget surplus.

Justice said at a news conference Tuesday the surplus is the first one in six years that didn’t involve budget cuts.

Justice says general revenue collections were a record $4.25 billion, topping the mark of $4.2 billion in fiscal 2015.

The governor says West Virginia has made “unbelievable progress” since a year ago, when talk of a deficit and cutbacks dominated the state.

In the first month of the fiscal year in July, revenue collections of $313.6 million were $32.4 million above estimates.