UPDATED: GRF receipts grow 5.6% in January

-- MEDIA RELEASE --

For Immediate Release

PRESTON L. DOERFLINGER
Director and Secretary
of Finance, Administration and Information Technology

MARY FALLIN
Governor

State of Oklahoma
Office of Management and Enterprise Services

Feb. 11, 2014

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.