News Release

PRESTON L. DOERFLINGER Secretary of Finance and Revenue

MARY FALLIN Governor

Aug. 22, 2012
For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
RON JENKINS
Public Information Officer
Oklahoma Office of State Finance
(405) 521-3267

Additional $21.4 Million Deposited into Rainy Day Fund;
Finance Chief says State's Revenue Structure Stabilized

OKLAHOMA CITY – An additional $21.4 million deposit into state government's constitutional Rainy Day Fund was announced Wednesday by Secretary of Finance Preston L. Doerflinger.

The extra money comes from a reconciliation of late deposits by state agencies into the General Revenue Fund for Fiscal Year 2012.

The additional deposit by the Office of State Finance will lift the FY-2012 surplus to$328.3 million, the final total going into the Rainy Day Fund. That raises the RDF total to $577.5 million. The OSF initially set the deposit at $306.8 million.

"This is good news and pushes us very close to the record $596.6 million in the Rainy Day Fund before it was drained to make ends meet during the recession," Doerflinger said.

"As an optimist by nature, I am hopeful Oklahoma can continue the tremendous economic strides we have made the past two years," he added. "But history persuades me to expect that our rapid growth in revenue will level off at some point.

"And with so much political and economic uncertainty on the national and international scene, it is prudent that our state has the biggest nest egg possible to deal with unforeseen circumstances."

General Revenue collections finished FY-2012 at $5,564,531,786.51, which is $426.7 million or 8.3 percent above FY-2011 collections and $328.3 million or 6.3 percent above the estimate.

Doerflinger said he firmly believes the leadership and pro-growth policies of Governor Mary Fallin helped accelerate Oklahoma's economic rebound the past two years.

"We had only $2.02 in the Rainy Day Fund when she took office in January 2011. Now we have stabilized our financial structure," the finance secretary said.

Gov. Fallin said, "When I came into office, the Rainy Day savings account had less than $3 in it. Oklahoma was essentially broke. Thanks to a renewed interest on sound fiscal stewardship, that number has swelled to over $577 million; restoring the strong safety net for the state should we experience an economic emergency.

"Fiscal discipline and economic growth, propelled in part by the job creating policies we've pursued with the Legislature, have brought the Rainy Day Fund back to an appropriate level. It's important we continue to build on those policies to protect and grow that fund in the future."
 

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