West Virginia legislators and Gov. Jim Justice have a big budget problem — but to look at the state’s March revenue report, you wouldn’t know that.

Even as Mountain State residents were altering our lifestyles to battle COVID-19, March receipts for the nearly $4.7 billion general revenue fund were higher than expectations. State officials had predicted $350.4 million in revenue for the month. Actual receipts were $362.7 million.

So much for the good news. That’s all there is.

Nearly $10 million of the unforeseen revenue was from personal income taxes. Last year was better than expected for West Virginia families.

Indications of how well the economy in general did in March were relatively flat — though a small uptick in sales tax receipts may have been a result of panic buying during the month. And, strangely, severance taxes of $39.5 million beat projections by $3 million.

Now that we’re facing a full month of COVID-19, however, expect revenue for both state and local governments to take a hit.

For one thing, personal income tax revenue for April will not be good — because the deadline for filing tax returns has been extended to July 15.

If you’re a local or state official, there is hope, however. It is contained in the $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief package approved by Congress more than a week ago. It contains funding for local and state governments.

West Virginia’s share of the basic relief fund should be around $1.25 billion, the National Conference of State Legislatures estimates. School systems will get shares of the $30 billion national Education Stabilization Fund. Another $45 billion is set aside for a national Disaster Relief Fund meant “for the immediate needs of state, local, tribal and territorial governments” in battling COVID-19.

But here’s the catch: There appears to be little guidance for states in how much of the funding they’re supposed to provide to local governments.

For many years, municipal and county governments in West Virginia relied heavily on property tax receipts, which won’t change as a result of COVID-19. But business and occupation tax revenue will dip. And many municipalities under the Home Rule Program have enacted sales taxes, which will be down because so many retail outlets are closed or have curtailed operations.

It’s my guess that between lower revenue for the current fiscal year, ending June 30, and the COVID-19 problem carryover into fiscal 2021, Justice and lawmakers would have no trouble eating up West Virginia’s entire $1.25 billion to keep the state budget in balance.

What about the suffering municipalities and counties?

Well, there’s always the possibility of additional federal action. There’s a good chance of that.

And West Virginia legislators live and work in our communities, know local officials well, and are highly unlikely to hug that $1.25 billion tightly and advise the city councils and county commissioners to eat cake.

At some point fairly soon, legislators will have to convene a special session to deal with COVID-19. I don’t envy them the hard fiscal choices they will have to make.

Myer can be reached at: mmyer@theintelligencer.net.