Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) announced an $876 million projected State budget surplus on December 1. The story of this forecast is simple. For the past year, Minnesota collected more revenue than they anticipated while expenditures were lower than projected. As a result, the 2010-2011 biennium ended with a surplus on June 30. This extra money was then carried into the 2012-2013 biennium. Going forward, for the remainder of the 2012-2013 biennium, MMB’s forecast is very cautious. It projects that Minnesota will collect less revenue which will be more than offset by a decrease in expected expenditures.