The Board of Equalization, chaired by Gov. J. Kevin Stitt, certified $8,249,071,274 in revenues for FY 2020 appropriations, which is $574.5 million, or 7.5 percent, more than was appropriated for FY 2019.

This amount is $37.8 million, or 0.5 percent, less than the December estimate. The state treasurer reported that at the end of January, gross revenue totaled $13.1 billion from the past 12 months. That is $1.5 billion, or 12.7 percent, more than collections from the previous 12 months.

“Today’s report by the Board of Equalization is encouraging,” said Stitt. “Our state’s economy has remained strong because of Oklahomans who are working hard, opening businesses and creating jobs.”

All major tax categories showed growth between the board’s December meeting and its February meeting except personal income tax, which fell $27.9 million, or 1.0 percent, and gross production taxes on natural gas, which decreased by $53.2 million, or 11.4 percent.

“It’s important going into the next two fiscal years that we build a state budget that is sustainable. While we did not meet the threshold for money to be deposited into the new Revenue Stabilization Fund this year, it is very likely that a large deposit will happen next fiscal year,” said Secretary of Budget Mike Mazzei. “This deposit could be hundreds of millions of dollars, which means there could be no growth revenue in FY 2021.

“We need to be cautious when allocating agency appropriations this year. If current trends continue, and we appropriate all available funds for FY 2020 operations, we could be setting ourselves up for some difficulty next year.”

Oklahoma state government builds a 5 percent cushion into every appropriated state budget to prevent mandatory budget reductions if revenues fall below the official estimate. If revenues are projected to fall more than 5 percent below the estimate for the remainder of the fiscal year, a revenue failure is declared and mandatory appropriation reductions must occur to maintain a balanced budget.

“Our state’s economy has been trending up over the last year. We have enough growth revenue to deposit $360 million in the Rainy Day Fund, which will give us a total of just over $800 million in our state savings account,” said Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka.

“We are in a much better position than we have been in recently, but we have to be realistic about how far this surplus can go,” said Budget Committee Kevin Chairman Wallace, R-Wellston. “The reality is that approximately $200 million of that surplus has already been spent in teacher flex benefit increases, ad valorem reimbursements, bond payments and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“If the Legislature passes the $1,200 teacher pay raise, which would cost $70 million, and the $30 million appropriation to the County Roads and Bridges Fund, that will be another $100 million. Frankly, given our recent history, I think it would be prudent to set aside at least 10 percent of that surplus to begin building a state savings account. The rest will be available to help invest in our state agencies, which have already sent us budget increase requests topping $1.2 billion over last year and more than $33 million in supplemental funding requests.”