State Sen. Lynwood Lewis (D-Accomac) was the guest speaker at the Mathews County Chamber of Commerce meeting on Nov. 19, and he brought some good news with him.

Lewis, who had attended a finance committee meeting earlier that day in Williamsburg, told chamber members that Virginia is currently in very good financial shape, with revenues exceeding expenses to the tune of a $500 million surplus.

Lewis touted the decision by Amazon to build its new facility in Northern Virginia, promising 25,000 high-paying jobs over three years, with possibly 12,000 more in the future. Of course, that deal came with a $550 million incentive package from the state, he said; but New York, which was also selected for a new facility, paid three times as much in incentives.

“All in all, it was a pretty good deal,” he said.

Virginia is the seventh richest state in the nation, said Lewis, although “if you take out Northern Virginia, the numbers change dramatically (and are) not quite as ro...