Unlike the previous two years, legislators and the governor won't have federal stimulus money and a hefty amount of savings to help fill gaps caused by revenue shortfalls.
NewsOK
BY MICHAEL MCNUTT
Published: October 3, 2010
Oklahoma's next governor will have little time to savor her victory before developing a proposed budget for a new fiscal year that by all indications will be grim.
"We may be facing an even more severe budget crisis this coming year than the past two,” said David Blatt, director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, a policy think tank. "The next governor, legislative leaders and the public probably have to expect that we are not at the end but more in the middle of what is a prolonged budget crisis.”
Even though the state's economy is starting to show a flicker of recovery, the next governor will have to deal with crafting a budget that at best will match this fiscal year's budget, which is bolstered by one-time funds of nearly $1 billion. Compounding the problem, about $130 million of projected new revenue expected to help balance this fiscal year's $6.7 billion budget has yet to materialize.
"Just to maintain everything where it is and not have to make more cuts, you're going to start with having to replace all the (federal) stimulus funds, all the Rainy Day funds and any other one-time things we did last session,” said state Treasurer Scott Meacham, who serves as outgoing Gov. Brad Henry's budget adviser. "You've got around $800 million that you've got to come up with in either growth revenue or any cash you have on hand, or you have to start making more cuts.” FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sun, October 3, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski