Norman — We shouldn’t break out the champagne and party hats just yet but the state passed a revenue milestone this week. It’s been more than two years since state revenue collections exceeded the estimate. December 2008 was the last time such an estimate was available.
It still fell short of collections for February 2009 and not enough to ward off the 10 percent agency allocation reduction. But it’s a small victory that could help weary Oklahoma lawmakers better gauge the state’s economic health. They’re busy setting the budget for fiscal 2011 which begins July 1 and are staring down a $1.2 billion budget hole.
The preliminary reports sent out this week show General Revenue Fund collections in February were about $220.6 billion which is $17.3 million below the prior year but nearly $800,000 above the estimate set out by budget makers last year.
Oklahoma could be getting the jump on an economic recovery that is long overdue. We’re usually the last to get hit by the impact of a national recession and one of the last to show signs of recovery. It’s significant also in that February is one of the state’s lowest collection month due to the payment of income tax refunds.
Increases were noted by state Treasurer Scott Meacham in gross production taxes on oil and personal income taxes, two categories that most analysts believed had bottomed out. Sales tax, a better indication of consumer behavior, continues to lag.
