TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is reporting that it collected $43 million more in taxes than anticipated in September.

The Department of Revenue said Tuesday that the state collected $744 million in taxes during the month when its official revenue forecast predicted $701 million. The surplus is nearly 6.2%.

Revenue Secretary Mark Burghart called it an encouraging end to the first quarter of the 2020 state budget year that began in July.

For those three months, tax collections were more than $1.7 billion and exceeded expectations by $48 million, or 2.8%.

Tax collections for the current fiscal year are running about 2.9% ahead of tax collections for the 2019 fiscal year.

Tax collections also have exceeded expectations 27 of the past 28 months.