Bloomberg
By TIM TALLEY - Feb 7, 2011 7:08 PM CT
By The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Gov. Mary Fallin on Monday proposed a combination of budget cuts, state agency consolidations and government modernization programs to work around a $600 million budget hole and balance a $6.4 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The Republican, who was sworn in for her first term last month, delivered her first executive budget plan on the opening day of the 2011 Oklahoma Legislature. The proposal is $361 million less than the $6.7 billion budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30 and reflects the austerity in state spending that Secretary of State Glenn Coffee said Oklahoma voters demanded in last year's elections.
"The people spoke loud and clear — they want us to live within our means," said Coffee, a Republican former state senator who Fallin has tapped as her chief budget negotiator. The executive budget provides a blueprint for state lawmakers to follow as they draw up a balanced budget during the four-month-long legislative session, which must end by May 27.
The budget proposal would spend $6.3 billion on state services next year, leaving a $100 million surplus at the end of the year, and keep in place an income tax trigger that would lower the state's highest income tax rate from 5.5 percent to 5.25 percent if state revenue grows by at least 4 percent... FULL ARTICLE
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Mon, February 7, 2011
by John Cox