GRF receipts grow 5.6% in January
YTD collections now 4.5% below projections
NOTE: Natural gas collections figure clarified.
OKLAHOMA CITY — General Revenue Fund (GRF)
collections improved in January, pushing year-to-date collections to 4.5
percent below the official estimate after starting the month 6.7 percent below
the estimate.
As state government’s main operating fund, the GRF is the
key indicator of state government’s fiscal status and the predominant funding
source for the annual state budget. Made up of nearly 70 revenue sources, the
GRF is where all taxes flow except those dedicated to specific programs.
January collections to the GRF totaled $610.5 million,
which is $32.2 million or 5.6 percent more than collections for January 2013
and $37.2 million or 6.5 percent above the official estimate upon which the Fiscal Year
2014 appropriated state budget is based.
“We needed a strong month and we got one,” said Secretary
of Finance, Administration and Information Technology Preston L. Doerflinger. “January’s
uptick in personal income and sales tax collections showed further expansion of
the state economy in the final days of the holiday shopping season.”
For the first seven months of FY 14, GRF collections
totaled $3.2 billion, which is $7.8 million or 0.2 percent below prior year
collections and $150.3 million or 4.5 percent below the official revenue
estimate upon which the FY 14 appropriated state budget is based. At the
beginning of the month, YTD collections were 1.5 percent below the prior year
and 6.7 percent below the estimate.
“We’re trending in a better direction and that should
continue,” Doerflinger said. “The only major risks I see are these noneconomic
factors and large refunds that continue to drag down revenues available for
appropriations. We saw more of that in January, but this time the growth
outweighed those losses.”
Under state law, mandatory budget reductions for all
agencies occur if revenues are not sufficient to fully provide monthly
allocations to all agencies for the entire fiscal year. Such a scenario is called
a “revenue failure.” A five percent cushion is built in to every state budget
to prevent revenue failures from occurring if revenues dip slightly below official
estimates.
“The
state won’t approach revenue failure this year unless it has a string of
abnormally weak revenue months going forward. The second half of the fiscal
year should be stronger than the first half, so all should be well barring
anything drastic,” Doerflinger said. “We have been monitoring this closely and see
no cause for alarm at this time.”
In addition to gains in most tax categories, a total of
$17.1 million was sent to the GRF in January due to the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s
ruling last year overturning House Bill 2032. The bill would have allocated $60
million in income tax revenues in FY 14 to state Capitol building repairs. Of
that $60 million, $20 million had already been set aside prior to the court
ruling. The $17.1 million represents the GRF’s portion of that $20 million.
“Even without the Capitol repair funds being recaptured,
January revenues would have been above both the prior year and estimated
collections for the month,” Doerflinger said.
Doerflinger added: “Getting a good growth month was nice,
but it won’t significantly change the outlook for a tight budget next year or
the need for agencies to prioritize spending to prepare for minor reductions. We’re
still likely looking at having slightly less to appropriate for next year,
which isn’t a bad thing at all.”
Doerflinger is director of the Office of Management and
Enterprise Services, which issues the monthly GRF reports and assists the Governor’s
Office in building the Executive Budget that is presented to the Legislature
annually. By law, the budget Gov. Mary Fallin presented this year was based on
the $6.9 billion official revenue estimate approved by the Board of
Equalization in December 2013. The board will meet again Feb. 18 to make a
second revenue estimate that will be used in negotiations between the governor
and the Legislature in setting the FY 15 appropriated state budget.
Major tax categories in January contributed the following
amounts to the GRF:
-
Individual and corporate income tax collections of $299.1 million were
$17.5 million or 6.2 percent more than prior year collections and $26.4 million
or 9.7 percent above the estimate.
Individual income tax collections of $272.5 million were $16.5 million or 6.5
percent more than prior year collections and $28.3 million or 11.6
percent above the estimate.
Corporate income tax collections of $26.6
million were $1 million or 4 percent more than prior year collections and $1.9
million or 6.6 percent below the estimate.
-
Sales tax collections of $169.5 million were
$3.4 million or 2 percent more than prior year collections and $9.8 million or 5.5
percent below the estimate.
-
Gross production tax collections of $28.3 million were $7 million or 19.8 percent less than prior year collections and $1.1
million or 3.8 percent below the estimate.
Natural gas collections of $344,174 were $9.5 million or 96.5 percent
less than prior year collections and $16.7 million or 98 percent less than the
estimate.
Oil collections of $27.9 million were $2.6 million or 10.1 percent more than
prior year collections and $15.6 million or 126.4 percent more than the estimate. Higher than expected oil prices continue to push revenue
from this source above the estimate.
-
Motor vehicle tax collections of $22.5 million were
$4.3 million or 23.8 percent more than prior year collections and $3.3 million or 17.4 percent above the estimate.
-
Other revenue collections of $91.2 million were
$14 million or 18.1 percent more than prior year collections and $18.4 million or
25.3 percent above the estimate.
Monthly revenue tables are available on the OMES website: http://www.ok.gov/OSF/News/January_2014_Financial_Report_Data_Tables.html
Media Contact
JOHN ESTUS Director of Public Affairs (405) 521-3097 | john.estus@omes.ok.gov
About the Office of Management and Enterprise Services
The Office of Management and Enterprise Services provides financial, property, purchasing, human resources and information technology services to all state agencies, and assists the Governor’s Office on budgetary policy matters. Our mission: To lead, support, and serve. For more information, visit OMES.OK.gov.
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