Before the meeting, economist Bill Gillespie has been telling legislators that state tax collections are running more than $50 million ahead of projections since the fiscal year began in July.

But few are breaking into celebration. After all, the amount is just 1 percent of the $5 billion budget.

"That's not a whole lot of money in the budget," state Treasurer Grady Patterson said. That news comes as the House Ways and Means Committee moves into the final phase of state budget writing. Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, said his committee is waiting for the advisors' final budget projection Thursday before deciding how much state agencies will have to spend.

"The bigger news is the mere fact that they say that, if they do say that. That tells us that the economy is coming back," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said.

The advisory board will decide Thursday whether to increase its estimates for the current budget year and for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

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