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Prediction: Next Year's State Budget To Be Flat

Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger
Oklahoma PCA
/
Flickr Creative Commons

Secretary of Finance, Administration and Information Technology Preston Doerflinger warned Thursday that next fiscal year’s state appropriated budget will be flat.

Doerflinger’s comments came in his monthly General Revenue Fund report. The report showed General Revenue Fund (GRF) collections in October totaled $471.6 million. That was $3.4 million, or 0.7 percent, above the official estimate upon which the FY2015 appropriated state budget is based and $23.3 million, or 5.2 percent, above prior year collections.

“Revenues are solid, but that doesn’t guarantee more money to appropriate in the next state budget,” Doerflinger said in a press release. “The current budget contains a significant amount of one-time money used to fill revenue holes and address pressing needs, which means next year’s budget effectively starts in a hole. The state has to recoup that money via GRF collections before it will have true revenue growth for the budget. This dilemma at a time of lower oil prices and increasing costs for off-the-top apportionments means a flat appropriated budget could be the best case scenario next year.”

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An Oklahoma-based company with corporate headquarters located in Oklahoma City, eCapitol launched as an online capitol news and information business in the early 1990's. eCapitol provides on-the-ground, politically-neutral reporting of capitol activity.
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