The Board of Revenue Estimates, composed of  Comptroller Peter Franchot, State Treasurer Nancy Kopp, and Secretary of Budget and Management T. Eloise Foster, announced today that revenue estimates for fiscal 2013 and 2014 are expected to increase.  As reported by the Baltimore Business Journal:

The Board of Revenue Estimates forecasts Maryland will bring in $15.03 billion in revenue in fiscal 2013, which started July 1. That is an increase of 5.5 percent, or $127 million, from the $14.9 billion estimate back in September.

As for fiscal 2014, forecasters said they now expect the state to bring in $15.35 billion in fiscal 2014. That would be up 2.1 percent, or $33.7 million, from the $15.3 billion projected in September.

While this is good news, some uncertainty still exists. As reported by the Baltimore Sun:

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had such good news,” state Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster said after the Board of Revenue Estimates adopted the forecast Thursday. “I’m always happy when we are writing revenues up.”

State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp added: “We are making significant progress. Maryland is going to see a brighter day, and we are ahead of the rest of the nation.”

There is a significant caveat: The ink would turn red if the federal government goes over the so-called fiscal cliff, automatically triggering a combination of spending cuts and tax increases if Congress cannot reach a budget deal by the end of December.