Wyoming revenue outlook improved by record investment earnings but oil, vehicle sales and coal changes temper forecasts

The Legislative Service Office27s revenue forecast to the House Appropriations Committee on Oct. 2025 showed the state finished fiscal 2025 ahead of the January consensus forecast, largely because of record investment returns.

Don Richards, principal author of the LSO profile and presenter to the committee, said the fiscal year "exceeded the revenue collections as compared to the January CREG forecast," while also noting that some major streams came in below expectations, including sales and use taxes and state royalties. Richards is staff to the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) and led the presentation to the committee.

The committee heard that the general fund and budget reserve account together are about $71.9 million ahead of the January projection for the fiscal year, and that the School Foundation Program (SFP) is $72.4 million above forecast, much of that driven by investment earnings. Richards told the committee that investment returns reached record levels this year and that "this is the first year ever that the investment earnings on the PMTF exceeded sales and use taxes deposited into the general fund."…