State ends FY09 with "surplus"

The Union Leader's Tom Fahey reports on the Fiscal Year 2009 Surplus Statement released yesterday.

New Hampshire ended the last fiscal year with a surprisingly healthy cash reserve, a report released yesterday shows.

The unaudited numbers in the annual financial statement show the state's Rainy Day Fund balance at $76.1 million on June 30, when the books closed on fiscal year 2009. That's $56 million more in reserves than lawmakers expected three months ago.

The listed surplus contains $65 million taken from the Joint Underwriting Association, which wasn't actually taken from the Joint Underwriting Association becuase it's illegal. Counting this money towards FY09 is just wrong. Otherwise, it appears that revenues came in slightly higher than anticipated two months ago, and that spending was much lower than projected. Charlie Arlinghaus is digging into the Surplus Statement, and we'll post his findings here.