In a press release Tuesday afternoon, Governor Brad Henry, Speaker Chris Benge and Senate Pro-Tem Glenn Coffee announced agreement on how to address the shortfalls in the FY ’10 budget that have resulted from this year’s revenues coming in sharply below the certified estimate.

Based on the revised estimates for FY ’10 certified by the Board of Equalization in December, the state is looking at a total mid-year shortfall of $809 million in FY ’10, made up of  $729 million in the General Revenue Fund and $80 million in the HB 1017 Education Reform Fund. The leadership agreement involves the following main features for bringing the FY ’10 budget into balance: Read the rest of this entry »

If state fiscal conditions can be likened to the weather, it’s been apparent for many months that Oklahoma is in the midst of a toad strangler of a rain, to borrow the Tulsa World’s colorful characterization. Going into the current fiscal year, the state faced projected revenue shortfalls of over $600 million.  While most agencies had their budgets cut by 5-7 percent, the use of some $640 million of federal stimulus dollars allowed the largest core agencies to receive smaller cuts or small increases, while the Rainy Day Fund was left intact. This year’s revenue collections, however, are coming in nearly 25 percent below the certified estimate. Agency budgets have been cut 5 percent each month, which has forced a growing number of agencies and school districts to reduce staff and scale back or eliminate core programs. Read the rest of this entry »