Posted on 12/24/2009 8:54:22 AM PST by dragnet2
Oklahoma has the unwanted distinction of having the largest revenue shortfall of any state, according to a new report.
That reality is illustrated by the state's revenue collections, which are down by more than 25 percent from a year ago.
The state last week ordered yet another round of cuts, this time instructing agencies to cut 10 percent from their budgets.
A November state budget report by the National Conference of State Legislatures says Oklahoma's 18.5 percent shortfall for the current fiscal year edges out Arizona's 18 percent, with Illinois in third at 16.5 percent.
State agencies appeared to be taken by surprise by the 10 percent reduction. Departments have been putting workers on furlough and cutting services to cope with the 5 percent reduction.
Lauri Monetti, a Department of Human Services spokeswoman, said the additional cuts threaten programs that have been protected to this point because of the federal matching money they attract.
She said cuts in one-time expenditures will likely be made first. She said the “effect will be more significant” if the negative trend in revenue doesn't reverse soon.
The prison system, which is more reliant on state general fund revenue than most departments, is still analyzing the situation.
Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie said the agency has already had a round of early retirements and is running furloughs. The department work force is at three-quarters of its authorized strength.
Not biggest in terms of total dollars, biggest in terms of shortfall between budget and revenues.
Oklahoma has probably got more bureaucrats per capita than any other state. It has commissions for commissions, for each county, for almost everything. It has the nation's longest state constitution, lots of it dedicated to defining government agencies. It is a mare's nest of entitled tinpot Boss Hawgs.
You got it.
No different than Dallas or Miami. Some of the counties, states, and cites are just a little more sophisticated and are able to hide their corruption a little better.
I'd sure like to be the guy that does the cutting...I'd cut tens of thousands of these government employee tax parasites.
But of course. Sometimes the obvious goes unspoken
Hey I am happy, joyous and free. I am ever a realist but I am a grown up and can handle the truth. ;)
That is very commendable.
Just curious, if they cut services, and benefits why do they need to raise taxes? Is this not what got us to this point?
For one thing, you'll notice that Oklahoma has had a unusual solution to the revenue shortfall...
OMG!!
Excuse you!? YankOkie, who IS one
The one I knew, had a pet rattlesnake. Once the snake bit her. She bit it back.
parsy, who says that just ain’t right
And so you prejudge an entire group, most of whom you’ve never met, based on one person you USED TO know once upon a time?
Be honest. You have a pet rattlesnake, don’t you? And you hit men upside the head with a cast iron skillet, too, don’t you? Go ahead be honest. Your man every once in a while says some little something wrong, and you grab your skillet and WHAM, you whomp him right upside the head when he hasn’t even done anything wrong.
parsy, who has PTSD (Post Traumatic Skillet Disorder)
Bttt
My man died on my birthday a few years ago.
I’ll just chalk up your mean-spirited comments tonight to one too many rum toddies on this blessed eve and wish you a Joyous Christmas anyway.
Bwa-ha-ha! I’ll be like Yosemite Sam who said he was going to buy the old ladies’ home and throw the old ladies out! ;-)
Sad, isn’t it? People have bought into the idea that a handful of people can create prosperity and progress. It’s just Soviet 5-year planning on a smaller scale, but it is just as corrupt and wasteful.
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