Oklahoma state agencies told cuts will continue
By Michael McNutt - Capitol Bureau
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Published: October 27, 2009
State leaders today said Oklahoma's economy will continue to slump for at least the next several months.
Gov. Brad Henry and legislative leaders warned state agency heads that their monthly revenue allocations will continue to be cut by 5 percent for the remainder of this fiscal year, or through June 30.
They cited a continuing shortfall in revenues and uncertain months ahead. State revenues have come in about 26 percent below estimates for the first quarter of this fiscal year. State agencies, many of which already had their budgets cut by 7 percent for this fiscal year, were told to cut their state allocations by 5 percent each of the first three months of this fiscal year.
The governor, House Speaker Chris Benge and Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee had hoped to see improvement in September revenues, a historically strong collection period.
But when the figures came in earlier this month, totals again fell short of the monthly allocation and estimate.
Legislative leaders said they would be reviewing agency budgets in the weeks to come.
"Our state continues to face uncertain revenue prospects for the foreseeable future, and the correct course of action is to continue to pare back expenditures throughout state government until better days return," said Coffee, R-Oklahoma City. "We will continue to be conservative in our budgeting processes and look for waste or duplication in government services, and see the state through this challenging time."
"These 5 percent cuts are unfortunately going to be permanent for the remainder of the fiscal year as we try to bring our expenditures more in line with the state's collections," said Benge, R-Tulsa.
When Oklahoma faced its last revenue crisis in 2003, the state's savings account, the Rainy Day Fund, was virtually empty. Although state leaders used its last available dollars to help plug budget holes then, the Rainy Day Fund has remained untouched in subsequent years, reaching its constitutional capacity for the first time in history. It now has nearly $600 million.
Henry, who has fought off efforts to tap the Rainy Day Fund in recent years, said if revenue trends do not improve significantly in the months to come, state leaders will have to use some of that money to balance the budget and to protect important programs in education, health care, public safety and other vital areas from even deeper cuts.
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State Statutes mandate that all budgets cuts must be made equally across the board and that State expenditures cannot exceed revenue. The State cannot borrow either so State agencies have no choice but to cut and live within their means. It will affect all areas equally, except maybe education, where there is some stimulus money left which can be used to offset education cuts. Coffee can say all he wants about being "conservative in their budget processes". These conservative budget processes aren’t going to magically create revenue and have helped lead to the State's revenue shortfall. Remember the tax cuts? These were supposed to stimulate our economy, bring jobs to the State and create more State revenue.
The Legislature needs to go out and seek ways to bring in additional revenue (such as examining tax credits and exemption) and continue to keep their options open about using the Rainy Day Fund and the remaining stimulus money to plug the budget holes. A look at oil and gas futures over the next few month show not much change, so the revenue shortfall should continue. The Legislature also needs to continue to “look for waste or duplication in government services”. However, these are becoming nearly impossible to find anymore.
pretty slick move there.
And they always go after the most needed services first, like law enforcement, instead of the wasteful ones, as witness what's going on up in Tulsa with that disgraceful mess. Those police officers could be retained, as they should be, if the Mayor's office would look for actual wasteful spending in other areas of Tulsa City government. The bureaucrats do this as a way of thumbing their nose at the taxpayers they're supposed to serve, as if to say "Hrrrummmph! You think you're going to cut MY featherbed? I'll just make your streets a little more unsafe, John Q. Citizen."
And, of course, whenever state agencies - or any publicly funded bureaucracy - is forced to make hard spending choices and cuts, they always and eternally play the "firefighters and cops first" routine: they always swear that public safety will suffer before anything else, because those sixteen vice-deputies to the second assistant director of Public Relations & Sunny Days are simply too, too, TOO important to cut from the staff. They are "essential" - but Highway Patrolmen are not. It's really just the way scummy bureaucrats attempt to inflict the maximum possible pain on their benefactors, the taxpayers, when they don't get every dime of funding they want.
And then they want to declare the title and mantle of "responsible" government. If they were actually running companies and operated that way, they would be bankrupt, in receivership, and liquidadated- or seeking a government bail out. If I ran my business this way, I would have gone under... but I saw what was coming and PLANNED for it.
Our so called "conservative" legislative wizards want to talk about the "correct course of action" but they were totally inactive in the last legislative session when the budget issues were already known. I might tolerate the burying their heads in the sand and ignoring the issues last session, but the total mutual backslapping self praising these "business wise" politicians conducted at the end of the last session about what great decisions they made even through they KNEW the economic situation was plummeting is a pretty insulting cut at citizens ability to connect the dots....