Even as the economy recovers, it’s become increasingly apparent that there is no end in sight to Oklahoma’s budget woes. Oklahoma has seen three straight years of budget cuts, and according to one House leader, we may be in for a fourth. At best, this year’s budget will stay flat, which means we can accomplish less due to inflation, reductions in federal assistance, and continued deterioration of equipment and infrastructure that we can’t afford to fix. It also means the damage caused by previous cuts will continue unchecked.

We provided overviews on previous rounds of budget cuts here, here, and here. This is an update on a few more of the ways we’re falling behind in public safety, child welfare, education, health, and other areas:

Public Safety

• The number of state troopers on Oklahoma highways is at its lowest level in 22 years. Without funds to train new troopers, the problem is likely to get worse because more than 1/4th of existing troopers are already eligible for retirement.
• The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has frozen hiring with 35 vacant jobs, and Director Stan Florence said further cuts would lead to furloughs. Inadequate staff has forced the agency to reduce investigations of the theft of equipment from oil and gas fields and curtail other investigative work. Read the rest of this entry »

Another budget year, the same sad story: The combination of tax cuts and the recession results in severe cuts to public services.

Over the past two years, most agencies have lost 15 percent or more of their funding. Even though state appropriations as a share of the economy is at a 30 year low, next year’s shortfall is projected at $500 million. The Governor’s proposed budget for next year would eliminate some agencies and take another 3 to 5 percent from the rest.

Last year we surveyed some of what’s been lost. Here’s an update:

• With personnel costs making up 93 percent of its budget, more cuts to the Public Safety Department will mean furloughs and possibly laying off troopers. The Department already has 110 fewer employees than 2 years ago, and more than half of the drivers’ license testing sites across the state have been closed. A portion of these funds are being replaced by increasing the fee to reinstate a driver’s license. Read the rest of this entry »

Shelley Cadamy is a native Oklahoman and adoptive/foster parent who has done economic development work in Oklahoma since 1994.

During a Leadership Oklahoma City session several years ago, I had the opportunity to ask the Oklahoma City Police Chief and Oklahoma County Sheriff what one thing each would change if they could. The answer was clear and unanimous – expand care for the mentally ill.

Regardless of one’s views on a government’s moral responsibility to its mentally ill citizens, the economic arguments for treating the mentally ill are staggering. According to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS), the greatest direct cost associated with untreated mental illness and addiction in Oklahoma is to the state Department of Corrections and the overall criminal justice system, which must bear the financial burden as increasing numbers of untreated mentally ill Oklahomans cause disturbances and become incarcerated. Out of 25,000 inmates, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections estimates that nearly 12,000 have a history of, or are currently exhibiting, some form of mental health problem. Read the rest of this entry »

Any Oklahoman with an interest in mental health issues would do well to read the article titled “Asylum” that appeared in the December issue of This Land, a new Tulsa-based monthly magazine. The article is a vivid first-hand account by Jennie Lloyd (note: initially we stated, mistakenly, that she wrote under a pseudonym), a Tulsa mother of two, of the week she spent in a state-funded psychiatric facility following an attempted suicide in September. After Jennie disclosed her intentions to her boyfriend, he called a mental health crisis line, which led to her being taken into protective custody and placed under an emergency order of detention (ED).  Without insurance and unable to find a bed in either a public or private inpatient psychiatric facility in Tulsa, Jennie ended up committed to one of the state’s 15 publicly-funded community health centers, the  Oklahoma County Crisis Intervention Center in Oklahoma City. Read the rest of this entry »

Last month, we surveyed some of the budget cuts that state agencies were being forced to implement as result of the state’s revenue shortfalls. Since then, the grim news continues to spread deeper into core programs, affecting major services like education, social services, and infrastructure. Our intern, Matt Garder, provides this round-up of coverage from the state’s newspapers of some of the actions that state agencies, cities, and school boards have announced in recent weeks to address budget shortfall, as well as looming cuts on the horizon: Read the rest of this entry »

As revenues have come in significantly below estimates this year, funding to state agencies was cut 5 percent a month from August to November and 10 percent each month since (see our updated fact sheet). OK Policy’s intern Matt Gardner has been tracking media reports of the ways that cuts in state funding over the course of the downturn. He provides this report of some of what’s transpired in recent months.

Budget cuts in recent months appear to have affected Oklahomans from all walks of life. Many agencies have been forced to cut jobs, offer bailouts, or implement furlough days, but cuts have required agencies to go further and eliminate services altogether.

Some examples:

• The Bill Willis Community Mental Health Center faces more cuts, despite having eliminated its 20-bed men’s substance abuse program. That was to save $1.2 million. Now, the center has been asked to trim $300,000 more. According to Executive Director Margaret Bradford, “without this type of treatment you’re going to see more and more people end up in the criminal justice system,” costing the state more money than the treatment. Read the rest of this entry »