By Jennifer Bendery, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
The Office of the Comptroller today released the 2005 Texas Annual Cash Report for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2005.
The report presents the state's financial position and details revenues and expenditures on a cash basis. As highlighted in the cover letter from Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the state's consolidated General Revenue Fund ended the year with a $4.8 billion cash balance. This is up from $2 billion at the end of FY 2004.
Balances in Special Revenue Funds, which are subject to restrictions on their use, decreased from $9.6 billion to $2.8 billion. Strayhorn said this large decrease is primarily due to "a difference in timing of the receipt of proceeds" from the state's annual sale of Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes (TRAN). In 2004, $6.6 billion in TRAN proceeds were received on August 31, 2004, prior to the end of the fiscal year. These amounts were included in the fiscal 2004 ending cash balances but were repaid during fiscal 2005, she said.
The report states that net revenues for general and special revenue funds increased by $3.7 billion, or 6 percent, over FY 2004, to a total of $65.8 billion. The largest increase in revenue was a $1.9 billion, or 6.9 percent, rise in tax collections, which was the result of the sales tax growing by $896 million, or 5.8 percent. Total net expenditures from these funds increased by 6.5 percent, or $4 billion, to a total of $64.7 billion.
The largest spending increase was $1.4 billion in transportation. According to the report, this increase of 26.6 percent is largely attributable to purchases of right-of-way and payments for construction in progress.