ALBANY - Tax collections for the first month of state fiscal year (SFY) 2012-13 fell by $336.3 million from a year ago, but were $485.9 million higher than Financial Plan projections, according to the April 2012 Cash Report released today by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

"It is encouraging that as we start a new fiscal year tax collections are exceeding expectations," DiNapoli said. "Revenue is above initial projections, but it's too soon to determine if this is a trend or an anomaly. Collections exceeded projections at this time last year, but revenues deteriorated in later months and additional budget-balancing actions were required. The economy is still very uncertain, and there are still risks to the state's revenue stream."

The General Fund is the major operating fund of the state and accounts for all receipts that are not required by law to be deposited into another fund. All Governmental Funds includes General, Special Revenue, Debt Service and Capital Projects funds, as well as funds from the federal government.

The complete April cash report can be found at: http://osc.state.ny.us/finance/finreports/cash/monthly/april12.pdf