BOE
approves $6B for FY 18 appropriations
Revenue
failure declared for FY 17
OKLAHOMA CITY —
The appropriated budget hole for fiscal year 2018 will be
$878 million.
As he presented the figures to the Board of Equalization on
Tuesday, Secretary of Finance, Administration and Information Technology
Preston L. Doerflinger also announced a revenue failure for
the current fiscal year.
“The numbers are bad this year and next,” he said.
“I don’t know how much more I can emphasize that the time
for action is now,” Doerflinger said. “We need new recurring revenue sources.
If we don’t change our path, then we will be doing incredible harm that could
set our state backward for decades.”
The Board of Equalization approved $6,029,537,421 in
revenues for FY 2018 appropriations, which is $701.5 million, or 10.4 percent,
less than was appropriated for FY 17.
The true budget hole is larger than what the board certified
Tuesday. Nearly $144.5 million in FY 2017 Rainy Day Fund appropriations and
about $32 million in FY 2017 revolving fund authorizations are not factored
into the FY 2016 baseline amount used by the board. With those factors
considered, there will be $878.2 million, or 12.7 percent, less to appropriate
for FY 2018.
The board also formally acknowledged a general revenue
failure for FY 17. As a result, state agencies receiving monthly general
revenue allocations will see those allocations reduced by 0.7 percent beginning
in March. The latest projections show the FY 17 General Revenue Fund will fall
$296.4 million, or 5.7 percent, below the official estimate made in June.
By law, if GRF collections are projected to fall more than 5
percent below the estimate for the remainder of the fiscal year, the Office of
Management and Enterprise Services director must declare a revenue failure and
initiate mandatory appropriation reductions to end the shortfall and maintain a
balanced budget.
Doerflinger, who is the director of OMES, issued the
declaration Tuesday. Agency
directors were directly notified of the 0.7 percent reduction amount after the Board of Equalization meeting.
“If current trends continue, we will likely have to issue
deeper cuts later in the year with fewer months to absorb it,” Doerflinger said,
adding that the Legislature should act soon to increase recurring revenue along
the line of the governor’s proposal.
“These problems will not just go away,” he said. “They must
be addressed head on. We have made bold proposals to change the trajectory of
our revenue collections, but action must be taken now.”
A fact sheet on today’s board meeting is available here: https://www.ok.gov/OSF/documents/MediaFactSheetFeb2017.pdf.
A copy of Secretary Doerflinger’s presentation can be found
here: https://www.ok.gov/OSF/documents/BOEPresentation02212016.pdf.
The Board of Equalization packet is available on the OMES
website: https://www.ok.gov/OSF/documents/boe02212017.pdf.
A list of the revenue failure reduction amounts
for each affected agency can be viewed here:
https://www.ok.gov/OSF/documents/GR_FY17reductions.xlsx.
Media Contact
MICHAEL BAKER
Director of Public Affairs
(405) 522-4265 | michael.baker@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: Supporting our partners through unified business services. For more information, visit OMES.OK.gov.
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