Outgoing Gov. and Legislative leaders met Friday morning in the Woolfolk state office building to adopt an official estimate of how much money the state will collect in tax collections for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Phil Bryant and the outgoing Gov. met Friday morning at the Woolfolk State Office Building to discuss an official estimate of how much money the state will collect from tax collections for the remaining fiscal year as well as the new fiscal year. Although it is possible, and perhaps even likely, that the revenue estimate may be adjusted in the 2020 session which begins in January, the official estimate of the state’s tax collections for the remainder of the current fiscal year and the new fiscal year, which starts July 1, is the preliminary estimate that $107 million will be spent during the next session. These funds will be very useful since Reeves as well as Lt. Gov.-elect Delberthosemann have committed to substantial teacher pay increases for the 2020 session. There has also been discussion about expending funds for other items such as work force development, early education, and a raise in state employees’ salaries. The annual meeting of the Legislative Budget Committee (14 members) and Bryant on Friday was unusual in that it included the outgoing governor, who couldn’t run for reelection due to term limits, as well as Gov.-elect Reeves who was the current lieutenant governor. Reeves will begin his term as governor in January. In the state’s history, it has been rare to have an outgoing governor or gov-elect participate in the annual meeting to determine the revenue for the next session. Bryant joked that you can’t swing the cat without hitting the governor at one point in the meeting. Although revenue collections have been strong for the first four months, the estimate adopted Friday shows that they will slow down during the rest of the fiscal year. Friday’s projection is that revenue will grow from $5.98billion for the previous fiscal year to $6billion for the current fiscal. Revenue collections are already up $122million (7.1%) for the current fiscal. The projection is that they will decrease for the remainder of the year. The projection for the next fiscal year is that revenue collections will actually decline by $30.7 million, starting July 1. This is in contrast to the projected amount collected during the current financial year. Reeves stated that the estimate is very conservative. The recommendation of the state’s financial specialists, which include the treasurer, state fiscal office, analyst with Legislative Budget Committee, revenue commissioner, and state economist, led to the budget committee and governor adopting the estimate. Darrin Webb, the State Economist, told the governor and committee that the estimated budget for the next fiscal year was reduced in part due to tax cuts and divertions from the state general funds that were passed in recent years and that are only beginning to kick in. Bryant said that the revenue growth is admirable. He said, “To all those who thought that we had given away our store (in tax cuts), to those mean old corporations we will now have more money than ever.” According to statistics such as the growth in Mississippi’s gross domestic products, the Mississippi economy still trails the national average. Webb stated that the state’s economy has gained some momentum in the last three years. We are still below 2008’s peak, which was before the Great Recession. Webb stated that the state’s GDP will grow by 1.2 percent in the current fiscal year, compared with 2.3 percent nationally. Webb said that the effects of Delta flooding could have a negative impact on the state’s GDP. The GDP is the value of all goods and services. The GDP is the total value of goods and services. Both the governor as well as legislative leaders will release budget proposals in the coming weeks before the start to the 2020 legislative session._x000D