Michael McCord reports on the latest disappointing revenue figures in the Portsmouth Herald.

State revenues in New Hampshire for January were down by $12.7 million, the fifth month of the fiscal year that revenues were below estimates.

Overall, January revenues totaled $108.4 million, which was 10.5 percent below estimates. For the first seven months of the 2010 fiscal year, revenues were $41 million, or 4 percent below projections.

“We have some concern that revenues are still coming in at a lower rate than we had anticipated,” said Senate Majority Leader Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, vice chairwoman of the senate Finance Committee. “We’re going to have to continue to close the hole.” That hole was made bigger for lawmakers when the Supreme Court ruled last week that the state could not transfer an estimated $44 million from the Joint Underwriting Association fund created by the state to help with medical malpractice premiums to help balance the 2010-2011 biennium budget.