For the third consecutive year, Oklahoma has money to spare after filling its savings account, state Treasurer Scott Meacham said Tuesday.
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Some of that extra money will have to bail out the under-funded state Corrections Department, which may not have enough funds to get through the calendar year, Meacham said.
A special session may be necessary in November or December, he said, to provide additional money for the Corrections Department, which during the past legislative session was given enough money to operate through February when a supplemental appropriation could be made. The fiscal year ends June 30.
Jerry Massie, a Corrections Department spokesman, said Tuesday the agency still is projecting it can make it financially through February.
The state received record revenues for the 2007 fiscal year that ended June 30, Meacham said. The state's general revenue fund collections for the 2007 fiscal year totaled $5.93 billion. The general revenue fund is the principal source of legislative appropriations; other designated funds put the state's total budget at $7 billion.
General revenue fund collections for the 2007 fiscal year were $230.3 million, or 4 percent, above the 2006 fiscal year, the treasurer's office said.
"The economy is continuing to grow,” Meacham said.
The state's savings account, the Rainy Day Fund, will receive a deposit of $75.9 million to bring the fund to its maximum allowable level — 10 percent of the prior year's certified general revenue fund collections, or $571.6 million.
After the deposit is made, the state will have about $151.5 million available. However, legislators, aware of the surplus, approved spending about $140 million of it during the past session. The one-time expenditures included $15 million for the Oklahoma Centennial Commission, $4 million to finish a forensics building on the University of Central Oklahoma campus, $10 million for the state's emergency fund, $20 million for higher education and $22 million for state teacher pay raises.
The remaining $11.5 million can be used to fund emergency supplemental requests when legislators return for next year's session in February. It will be combined with other cash; Meacham estimates the state has about $140 million in available cash.
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