Arizona will post a revenue surplus of $850 million this year, which will be available to the Legislature to cut taxes, raise state employee pay, fight illegal immigration, and meet other legislative priorities, legislative budget experts said last week.
Richard Stavneak, director of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, told members of the House and Senate appropriations committees that the record revenue increases over the past year are partly due to the state's sizzling real estate market, but added that the whole state economy is performing well and should stay hot at least another 18 months.
However, almost $500 million of the surplus can be attributed to one-time revenue increases on things like capital gains from real estate sales, Stavneak said, so it would be unwise to spend that money on ongoing programs.
