OKLAHOMA CITY – A panel led by Gov. Kevin Stitt decided Friday that Oklahoma lawmakers may have about $2 billion more to spend in subsequent yr’s price range than they did within the present one.
The Board of Equalization licensed that the Legislature may have $12.6 billion to spend within the price range for the fiscal yr that begins July 1. That’s a rise of $2 billion from final yr’s $10.6 billion that lawmakers have been approved to spend.
The Legislature additionally has one other $1.4 billion stashed away in state financial savings accounts and $700 million that was appropriated final yr to assist lure a producing facility to Oklahoma that didn’t materialize.
Despite the rosy monetary projections, Republican state Sen. Roger Thompson, the chairman of the highly effective Senate Appropriations Committee, warned that a lot of the extra income lawmakers have to spend, more than $1.3 billion, is one-time money that wasn’t spent final yr. He stated that income is non-recurring and may solely be spent on one-time tasks.
Thompson additionally cautioned that the out there income relies on projected collections and will find yourself being decrease, significantly if oil and pure fuel costs proceed to fall. The value of crude oil has fallen from about $92 per barrel at first of November to about $75 per barrel this week.
“We’ve got a warmer winter than had been anticipated … and so I think natural gas will go down as well,” stated Thompson, of Okemah. “And those are our two big revenue drivers.”
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