2010 Fiscal Year Ends with Largest Revenue Decrease in State History

News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Treasurer Scott Meacham held news conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss revenue collections for the fiscal year 2010.

Oklahoma ended the fiscal year on June 30 with the largest revenue decrease in state history. Still, Meacham said the state began recovering from the recession in February and continues to do so.

Preliminary reports show the General Revenue Fund collections for Fiscal Year 2010 were $4.6 billion. That amount is $945 million or 17 percent below the prior year; and $815.7 million or 15.1 percent below the official estimate.

"The effects of the global recession were felt strongly in Oklahoma during the fiscal year," said Meacham. "A drop of $945 million or 17 percent in collections from the prior year illustrates the intensity of the historical downturn Oklahoma's economy experienced."

Meacham said the first six months of the fiscal year where the state's hardest, seeing improvements in gross production, sales and motor vehicle tax collections from December through the rest of the year.

Meacham said the coming fiscal year is expected to be even better.

"The worst is definitely behind us. The coming fiscal year promises to be much better as economic activity and resulting state revenue collections have begun to show improvement," he said.