The largest deposit in six years will be made into Oklahoma's savings account, state Finance Director Preston Doerflinger said.
NewsOK
BY MICHAEL MCNUTT mmcnutt@opubco.com
Published: July 11, 2011
A strong finish to the 2011 fiscal year will result in the state having $219 million — or three times more than expected — to put into its savings account, officials said Monday.
Unfortunately none of that money can be used immediately to help out state agencies struggling to endure funding cuts that are part of this fiscal year's budget approved by lawmakers and the governor. They settled on the cuts to help deal with a $500 million shortfall for the 2012 fiscal year, which started July 1; some agencies have had their budgets cut the past three years.
The state constitution authorizes lawmakers to appropriate only how much money is officially certified for them to spend during their legislative session. The official estimate is made in February; lawmakers are in session from early February until late May, with their main responsibility putting together a budget to fund state government for the upcoming fiscal year that starts in July.
Money that comes in above those estimates goes into the state's Rainy Day Fund. Lawmakers could use some of the money when they return next year to deal with budget shortfalls or with an emergency. Or they could leave it alone and allow it to grow; the Rainy Day Fund reached a record-high $596.6 million last year before most of it was used to deal with revenue shortcomings in the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years caused mostly by the national recession and low natural gas prices. Only $2.03 was left in the account a year ago... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Mon, July 11, 2011
by John Cox