January state revenues $17m below goal

CONCORD – State revenues came in below forecast by $17 million or 14 percent last month, Gov. Maggie Hassan administration officials reported Tuesday. January is not a significant month for state revenues, but it is the last one Hassan has to rely upon as she prepares to present a proposed two-year state budget plan next week. Through seven months of the fiscal year, the state is $30 million short of what it was expecting to have received by now. All of that shortfall and more – $34 million in total – is owed to the state by the private acute care hospitals under the Medicaid Enhancement Tax. Hospitals are claiming they have been overcharged by that amount, but state officials fully expect that the Obama administration will rule the tax assessments are proper. For last month, Administrative Services Commissioner Linda Hodgdon said half of the shortage, $8.6 million, is because revenue from the sale of securities came in a month earlier.