• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- North Dakota's estimated budget surplus has mushroomed to $1.6 billion, analysts said Wednesday, which Gov. Jack Dalrymple credited largely to sales tax collections from the prosperous oil economy.
• The amount is almost 40 percent of North Dakota's present state general fund spending. In July, analysts pegged the surplus at $850 million.
• As impressive as the number is -- more than $2,300 for every North Dakota resident -- it's an understatement of the revenue gushing into the state's treasury. It excludes $1.9 billion in three restricted state funds and $1 billion that has been set aside for public works projects and property tax cuts.
• "Even the professional forecasters would not have expected the kind of commercial activity, the kind of sales tax collections, that we have seen," Dalrymple said.
• The new estimates predict how much revenue the state will have when its current two-year budget period ends June 30. Dalrymple will present his spending recommendations to the Legislature in four months.
• The numbers, crafted by state agencies and a national economic consultancy, were presented Wednesday to a legislative committee that has been contemplating proposals for large public-works projects.
• "I hope they're correct. We certainly don't want to overestimate our income, and be in a position where it doesn't come through," said Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "If you look at the history of the last couple of years, it will probably come through."
• The largest restricted state fund is the Legacy Fund, which voters created two years ago to stash a portion of North Dakota's oil tax collections. In June, forecasters expect the fund will contain almost $1.2 billion. It can't be touched for another five years.
• North Dakota has risen to No. 2 among the nation's oil-producing states behind Texas, with a fivefold increase in production since 2007. It supplies about 11 percent of the nation's monthly oil output, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
• The surplus amount also does not include a $687 million fund for public works projects, which was created by the Legislature last year, or a $342 million fund that has been set aside to pay for local property tax reductions.

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