Oklahoma legislators will have a little less money to spend in the coming year than they had for the current budget.
The state Board of Equalization met Tuesday to certify the final figure that lawmakers will use to write the state budget for the 12 months that begin July 1.
There’s a lot of money available for appropriation: $8.2 billion. If spent wisely, that can accomplish a great deal of good.
Revenue contraction is never a good thing, and it should lead to reconsideration of the state tax base and efforts to foster economic diversification, but let’s keep it all in context. The state will have a little more than 1% less available for appropriation next year than this.
And everyone needs to remember that the Legislature left $200 million on the table last year. That’s $200 million that was available for appropriation but wasn’t spent. That $200 million is still available for spending, which certainly should be considered before any cuts to essential services are considered. At any rate, to just keep pace with current commitments and to make some progress on unmet needs of basic state government services, it would be very hard to justify leaving more money on the table.
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Especially when there’s another $806 million sitting in the constitutional Rainy Day Fund, should it be needed.
While there may not be a robust amount of money available for spending increases, there are still plenty of ways that the state can do what needs to be done.
First, of course, we can make sure that money is being spent in a fashion that accurately reflects the state’s top priorities. We say public schools are the top priority, so giving tax breaks to millionaires who donate to private schools is an obviously inappropriate diversion of resources.
For Medicaid expansion, which would require $100 million to $150 million new dollars for a full year, the state could look at a variety of sources, including the state’s provider tax, as a means of support.
One-time investments, such as funding the long-pending list of endowed professorships for state colleges and universities, can be spread over the long term through bond issues.
Oklahoma’s maladjusted tax base works against adequate funding of essential government services. We insist that what money is available must be spent in the best way possible.
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