Fiscal staff reports FY2026 collections ahead of forecast but flags Project Mint timing distortions

The committee received an update on year-to-date general fund collections and Project Mint accounting issues on April 1, 2026.

Susanna Powers, deputy fiscal analyst, explained the table of unrestricted general fund revenues through February 2026 and said total FY2026 general fund revenue was about $255.3 million (8.9%) higher than last year at the same point. She warned that Project Mint, the Department of Taxation's new accounting/reporting system, produced timing distortions that make direct year-over-year comparisons misleading: a November 2025 posting captured roughly half of the sales-and-use-tax cash flow for that month and a late FY2025 commerce-tax posting shifted approximately $80 million into FY2026.

"After adjusting for Project Mint timing issues, we are approximately $150 million ahead of where we would typically expect to be at this stage of the fiscal year," Powers said, noting that $107 million of that cushion reflects onetime items (including a $27 million accounting timing change and roughly $80 million in delayed FY2025 commerce-tax receipts).

Committee members asked how to interpret the reported cushion and for assurance that the Department of Taxation will resolve the reporting anomalies. Michael Nakamoto told members that phase one distortions should be resolved once FY2026 closes and staff will return with an apples-to-apples comparison after the final FY2026 postings. "Once we close the books for fiscal year 2026 and compare the year-over-year results, this distortion will disappear," Powers said.

The committee asked staff to plan a follow-up meeting after final FY2026 postings to review the full-year results and to examine revenue stability and potential one-time windfalls in detail. Powers and Nakamoto said the legislative commission had approved an additional meeting in October to present final FY2026 reconciled figures and related analyses.