State tax collections for the fiscal year are down any way you compute them.

Net tax receipts are about $149 million below tax collections last year.

In fact, net tax receipts - $3.357 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30 - haven't been this low since fiscal year 2006.

Nebraska's net tax receipts also fell about $36.5 million below the official projections for the year, based on a Department of Revenue report released Friday.

But there's no need for a special session. Nebraska still has plenty of money to run state operations because of a healthy $325 million cash reserve.

The $36.5 million drop below the official projections represents about 1 percent of total spending, said Gerry Oligmueller, budget director for Gov. Dave Heineman.

"Nobody knows what is going to happen in the next couple of months, but the shortfall (below projections) isn't a cause for any immediate action on the part of the governor or Legislature," he said.

Though Nebraska tax revenues did drop last fiscal year, Nebraska's economy is still better than those in many other states.

Nebraska had a slight drop in sales tax receipts while many states had dramatic drops, Oligmueller said.

Tax receipts are "somewhat flat," said Sen. Lavon Heidemann, chairman of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee.

"But in today's economy, flat's not even bad," said Heidemann of Elk Creek.

Said Oligmueller: "We have been able to pay our bills and pay tax refunds. We haven't had to delay school aid payments.

"We continue to have money in our general fund. We continue to have a robust cash reserve.

"We're not seeing things that are as bad as it seems to be in other states. But it still bears watching."

The state budget staff will continue to monitor the tax receipts over the next few months, he said.

Nebraska's tax revenues dropped below the previous year once in the past decade, in fiscal year 2002.

Reach Nancy Hicks at (402) 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.