Budget Pact Reached

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry joined with legislative leaders last week to announce an agreement on a fiscal 2009 budget that’s $100 million lower than the $7 billion budget for fiscal 2008. The budget contains few increases for stat agencies over fiscal 2008, and no raises for state employees or public school teachers.

“In a very challenging budget year, we did our best to stretch the state’s limited resources as far as possible,” Henry said. “Certainly, we wanted to do much more for education, health care, roads, public safety, and other important priority areas, but we had to live within our budget constraints.”

The fiscal 2009 budget is based on an official estimate by state Board of Equalization in February that the revenue projections for fiscal 2009 developed by the Oklahoma Tax Commission indicated $195 million less in revenue than was estimated in December.

Sen. Mike Johnson, R-Kingfisher, co-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the budget reflects economic realities.

“This is not a perfect budget, but given the weakening national economy and deep budget cuts that are occurring in other states, we’re pretty fortunate to have a good economy and a standstill budget here in Oklahoma,” he said.

Rep. Ken Miller, R-Edmond, chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, said the governor and lawmakers had to work together to make the most efficient use of the revenues that were available.

“We worked diligently and constructively in this tight financial year to ensure all agencies have at least standstill budgets without any cuts,” Miller said.

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