North Dakota May Have Finally Found Rock Bottom in Revenues Free Fall

Yesterday the Office of Management and Budget released their final general fund revenue report for the 2015-2017 biennium which ended on June 30.

You can read it in full below.

Compared to the previous biennium – which set a record for general fund revenue collections – the State of North Dakota was down over $1.68 billion in tax and fee collections. You can see a table breaking down that number by the specific revenue streams. The chart below compares the cumulative revenues collected in the current biennium to the four biennia.

Interestingly, while the state’s general fund revenue collections are clear down from the oil boom years, they’re still well above pre-oil boom levels (click for a larger view):

It’s fair to say that the new post-oil boom normal, at least so far as general fund revenues, is that North Dakota will have more revenues going forward than it did pre-oil boom. Probably because of the population increase the oil boom brought, not to mention the additional economic activity it spurred.

Those are good things.

Also a good thing is that the revenue free fall may be over. It’s very early, but so far the revenue forecast lawmakers used during their session earlier this year to budget for the 2017-2019 biennium is proving accurate. Through June, the state has taken in over $24 million (or 0.7 percent) more than was forecast.

It’s a sign that the state may have finally reached rock bottom.