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By Dana Ferguson, Minnesota Public Radio News

Minnesota budget officials said Monday that the state’s budget surplus is on track to be almost 50 percent larger than projected earlier this year.

Minnesota brought in more revenue from taxes and fees than forecast this spring and spent slightly less than expected. The result: a balance $820 million higher than the $1.6 billion prior projection, Minnesota Management and Budget reported in its end-of-fiscal-year analysis.

The extra funds are set to be added to the state’s surplus for the next budget cycle, although the exact size of any surplus won’t be announced until early December.

State officials earlier this year said their two-year projected budget surplus — estimated at $17.5 billion in February — was testimony to the fact that Minnesota had withstood the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and outpaced the U.S. economy overall.

The bulk of that surplus was divvied up in the budget-setting process earlier this year. Lawmakers are expected to take up a supplemental budget bill and capital investment bill in 2024.