For the second month in a row, state revenue collections have beaten the forecast. Collections for the April 11 to May 10 period beat expectations by $57.6 million. Of this, $29.5 million represents property tax payments. State economists suspect that the positive variance in property taxes will be reversed in the May 11–June 10 collection period. Factoring this out, the good news for the month is $18.1 million.

Cumulatively, collections have exceeded forecast by $86.4 million over the two months since the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council updated the forecast in March.

The ERFC’s May Economic and Revenue Update is available here.

The next important data point on the state economy comes on Wednesday, when the Employment Security Department will release the initial estimate of April employment for the state and revised estimates of February and March employment.