Revenue Estimate Set

The State Board of Equalization last week certified a state general fund revenue estimate of $5.2 billion in fiscal 2012, which would give lawmakers $4.9 billion to appropriate next year.

The Legislature may appropriate up to 95% of the official estimate.

The total is about $226 million less than lawmakers had available in fiscal 2011, but the drop is smaller than many had expected.

Gov. Brad Henry, a member of the revenue board, said the revenue situation could have been worse.

"First of all, the budget hole of $226 million is far less than the $600 million people have been talking about and guesstimating in the past," Henry said at a news conference in Oklahoma City.

"The good news for the new governor and Legislature is that $226 million is not insurmountable," Henry said. "This is something they can deal with."

He said lawmakers should be careful about further paring state services in fiscal 2012. He urged them to protect "education, health care, transportation, and public safety, and all the important areas."

Henry, a two-term Democrat who could not run for re-election due to term limits, said the revenue shortfall might be even smaller when the final estimate is delivered to the Legislature next year.

"If revenues continue to follow the pace they are on, that budget hole of $226 million will get even smaller by February," Henry said. "I think it is good news on the horizon."

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Oklahoma
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