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Pennsylvania Touts Stronger Fiscal Health, But Clouds Loom

Matt Rourke
/
AP

Gov. Tom Wolf says Pennsylvania is making its largest deposit into its budgetary reserve account in nearly two decades.

Wolf's office said Tuesday's deposit is $317 million, after strong corporate and sales tax collections drove the state past its revenue expectations by almost 3 percent.

The state collected a total of $34.9 billion for its main operating account in the just-ended fiscal year. That exceeded projections by $883 million, although most of that extra cash was needed to cover cost overruns.

The 2019-20 fiscal year that began July 1 is projected to be another relatively strong year for tax collections.

However, not everything's rosy. Pennsylvania still had $67 billion in state pension debt, as of the last valuation, and demographic projections show its working-age population is shrinking.