BOSTON (SHNS) – While April’s below-expectation tax collection report “can be jarring,” the Healey administration’s budget chief reiterated Tuesday that the “phenomenon” would not result in any cuts to the current state spending, and the numbers budget-writers are using to draft the fiscal 2024 spending plan are still holding solid.

Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz also used his presentation to the Local Government Advisory Commission as a chance to boost Gov. Maura Healey’s tax relief package as a plan that remains “affordable” and “urgent as ever.”

Appearing before the same commission April 11, Gorzkowicz had said that “strong” March collections boded well for April revenues, and highlighted the latter month’s importance as the biggest tax collection period of the fiscal year.

“I think in our last meeting, I may have said something to the effect that April revenues have the potential of making or breaking a fiscal year. With that said, or had been said, I’m sure you heard by now, April revenues were a little disappointing,” the secretary said Tuesday.

Massachusetts revenues last month came in at $4.782 billion — $1.435 billion below state officials’ projected estimate. The news plunged the state budget into a revenue deficit, and raised the stakes for May’s revenue report, which is due out in early June. The May benchmark is $2.537 billion.

Speaking to municipal officials at the State House, Gorzkowicz said that Department of Revenue analysis had pinpointed the “great majority” of the overall April drop was due to slips in capital gains revenue and use of pass-through-entity credits, two areas he and Healey also pointed to last week.

But the full effect of the revenue landscape in April may not come to light for many more months.

Of all those tax returns where the state observed a revenue decline, the secretary said around 75 percent were also cases where the taxpayer filed for an extension.

This year’s extended filing date is Oct. 16, an Administration and Finance spokesman confirmed, meaning most of the returns in question might not even get into the state’s hands until fall.

“We’ve known for some time the impact that volatile capital gains has on our budget, and we’ve put in mechanisms in statute that smooth out that volatility, by capping the amount of capital gains you can actually build into the budget and grow programs and services,” Gorzkowicz said.

So while budget officials had expected $2.9 billion in capital gains revenue for fiscal 2023, they were only able to budget up to $1.4 billion for spending. The excess above that $1.4 billion cap goes into the state’s “rainy day” fund by statute.

This practice cushions the state against an “immediate” impact on its budget, Gorzkowicz said, when something like April’s “sizeable drop” in capital gains revenue occurs.

And while he doesn’t see slipping revenues “impact[ing] the budget balance” for fiscal 2023, he said it “would decrease planned transfers” to the rainy day fund, which is already at a high-water mark over $7.1 billion. A couple months ago, the state was projecting the stabilization fund’s balance would exceed $8 billion by June 30.

Gorzkowicz said he would be following May and June revenues “very closely” and that “various tools,” including prior year surpluses, would “ensure the budget can remain in balance” when the fiscal year ends on June 30.

“And with two months remaining in the fiscal year, we don’t see the need for any emergency actions to take place. No 9C cuts or anything like that,” said the secretary, who served as assistant secretary for budget in the Great Recession years of Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration.

“We don’t understand the word 9C in this room,” Lt. Gov. Kimberley Driscoll said, referring to the government term for emergency spending cuts.

“Well, you won’t need to,” Gorzkowicz replied as commission meeting attendees broke out in laughter.

The secretary said “revenues overall are still trending quite high” compared to multi-year averages, and highlighted “indicators of economic strength” like strong income tax withholding and sales tax revenue figures.

He added that there are no plans to revisit the consensus revenue estimate for fiscal 2024 because “we believe [the current estimate], at this time, properly accounts for the phenomenon we observed in April.”

After Healey filed a $1 billion tax relief plan earlier this year, the House followed by passing its own $1.1 billion version in April. The tax relief idea has met a slower track in the Senate, though branch leaders this week said they plan to take it up after they’ve finished work on their fiscal 2024 budget bill.

“I want to assure you that we believe strongly the governor’s tax relief package proposal remains sound, reasonable, and affordable fiscal policy,” Gorzkowicz said. “And our priorities of affordability, equity, and competitiveness addressed in that tax package are as important and urgent as ever to ensure the long-term stability of our economy and tax base.”

The plan was drafted with a “long-term perspective that was not dependent on the results of a single year or a single month,” he told local officials.

After Gorzkowicz’ presentation, Driscoll told attendees there was “no cause for panic” about April collections, and called the revenue situation something to “keep our eye on.”

“It’s still in a post-pandemic world, where I think everyone is still trying to get a better grip on exactly how to predict the future, but we’re feeling pretty comfortable with where we’re at right now,” Driscoll said.

Budget officials have pegged their May revenue estimate at $2.537 billion.