First, the good news: Florida’s fiscal forecast hasn’t changed much since the last time state economists met in December.

Now, the bad news: The state’s still facing about a $2.2 billion budget shortfall in its general revenue collections.

In December, the economists estimated about $22.5 billion in sales and other tax collections for 2010-2011.

Now, the legislature’s Bureau of Economic and Demographic Research is predicting that tax collections and other fees will bring in about $2.2 million less than the December projection, close to the Department of Revenue’s estimates that the collections will come in about $65.9 million short.

But Gov. Charlie Crist’s office is revising its estimate in the other direction, a reflection of the governor’s perennial optimism.

Crist’s budget gurus think the state will bring in $257.3 million more than they previously anticipated.

The revenue estimating conference will meet throughout the day and provide their final prognostications this afternoon.

But Gov. Charlie Crist’s office is showing about the about meeting with Gov. Charlie Crist’s budget gurus and the Department of Revenue’s economists

Tags: Charlie Crist, revenue estimating conference, state budget

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 10:21 am and is filed under Charlie Crist, state budget. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.