All About the Office of State Finance

Background

The Office of State Finance helps create, communicate and carry out the governor’s fiscal policies.

The director, Preston Doerflinger, was appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin in 2011.

The OSF also oversees the state’s financial transactions, including payroll, vendor payments and dispersal of federal aid, and is the public and media’s primary source of information about the financial state of Oklahoma.

Key departments within the OSF include the Division of Central Accounting and Reporting, headed by state comptroller Brenda Bolander; the Gaming Compliance Unit, which oversees tribal gaming; and the CORE Group, which collects and analyzes financial data for various state agencies.

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December 20, 2011

Next Year’s Best-Case Budget Scenario is ‘Flat’

Republicanconference / Flickr The revenue estimates have been officially certified by the Board of Equalization: Gov. Mary Fallin has $6.5 billion to budget for FY 2013. Oklahoma has about $120 million more than it did last year, but lawmakers are still staring into a $150 million budget hole. Last year, lawmakers patched a $500 million [...]

How Oklahoma’s New Budget Hole Formed and What Might Fill It

Oklahoma’s revenues are up, and Office of State Finance officials expect lawmakers will have more state funds to appropriate next year. The latest estimate is that Oklahoma will have about $6.5 billion available for appropriation next fiscal year, and that the state revenue collections will be about $400 million more than they were a year [...]

December 19, 2011

No-Bid Spending Up 24%, Tulsa World Investigation Shows

Spending by state agencies on no-bid contracts increased 24 percent from fiscal years 2010 to 2011, a Tulsa World investigation has revealed. The paper’s Curtis Killman reports that about 74 state agencies issued 1,376 no-bid contracts worth about $126 million in FY 2011: Contracts were issued without bids for items ranging from $48,000 for photocopiers [...]

December 14, 2011

Flat Budget Won’t Budge Despite Oil Tax ‘Bonanza’

The AP with the synopsis: State finance officials said a boom in Oklahoma’s oil patch is helping to boost general revenue collections more than 20 percent over the same time last year.

November 21, 2011

Flat State Budget for 2013, Finance Officials Predict

Tax collections are above projections, but next year’s state budget is looking flat. From the Associated Press: “It’s still a little early … but my message is that I think we’re dealing with a flat budget,” Preston Doerflinger, director of the Office of State Finance, said.

November 16, 2011

Exploring Oklahoma’s Revenue Growth

The state’s general revenue fund is growing, State Finance Director Preston Doerflinger said in a statement released Tuesday. The Tulsa World’s Randy Krehbiel on the basics: Deposits to the fund, the source for most legislative appropriations, totaled $408.1 million for October, a 6.3 percent increase over the same month a year ago and 2.3 percent [...]

November 10, 2011

The Tax Credit Task Force’s Nine-Part Plan

The tax credit task force is winding down. On Wednesday, the panel discussed its final report and the criteria by which it would evaluate tax credits and economic incentives, which are estimated to cost the state between $250 million and $500 million in revenue each year. State Rep. David Dank, who co-chairs the Task Force [...]

November 8, 2011

State Lawmakers Might Have Deeper Pockets Next Session

eCapitol News reports: Lawmakers could have more money to spend during the 2012 legislative session if Oklahoma’s General Revenue Fund collections follow the trend of the past 10 years, the Office of State Finance reported. The OSF released its State Budget Outlook Multi-Year Trend Analysis last week, which analyzes major sources of tax revenues for [...]

November 4, 2011

Agencies That Miss Budget Request Deadline Face No Real Consequence

The state budget process in Oklahoma begins at the agency level. By Oct. 1 each year, state statutes mandate that most state agencies file an itemized request with the Office of State Finance showing the amount of money needed for the following fiscal year. Fifty-nine agencies, authorities, boards and commissions didn’t file requests on time [...]

August 17, 2011

The Six Lead Architects Behind Oklahoma’s Budget

Joe Raedle / Getty Images Fiscal year 2012 is barely underway, but lawmakers are already hard at work outlining the 2013 budget. The process starts with agencies and analysis: What funding do specific departments need, and how much money does the state have to dole out? Six official architects are tasked with building the framework [...]