TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has seen its budget picture improve slightly after officials and university economists issued a new fiscal forecast that was a little more optimistic than the previous one.

The state’s forecasting group on Thursday increased projections for tax collections by a total of $156 million through June 2019.

The new forecast is the first positive one in three years and some good news for Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and the GOP-controlled Legislature.

The new forecast replaces a pessimistic one from November assuming that economic slumps in agriculture and energy production would continue through 2018. The state had been left with budget shortfalls totaling about $1 billion through June 2019.

But tax collections since then have been better than expected.

With the new forecast, the budget gaps now total $889 million.