The Oklahoman Editorial Page
David Blatt

Nearly every week brings news of state agencies confronting funding shortfalls. The Oklahoma Department of Labor announces that it lacks the money and manpower to conduct safety inspections of children's water slides. The state's foster care system faces a lawsuit over inadequate care tied to chronic staffing shortages. Nearly 8,000 (about one-third) of the state's bridges are functionally obsolete or structurally deficient.

These funding problems directly threaten our prosperity, our physical security, and the health and well-being of our children and families.

As we consider how to meet these challenges, we are also learning that Oklahoma is once again facing hard budget times. The Legislature has more than $100 million less for next year's budget. If the national economy weakens in the coming months, as expected, there is good reason to fear that we may now be in the early stages of a prolonged budget downturn.

Many have reacted to the new budget situation with reassurances that state government will just need to tighten its belt. A recent Oklahoman editorial asserted that, "in most private households, such news is greeted with resignation — that spending priorities must be changed and luxuries must be foregone.”

But what if your family income is stagnating or actually falling at the same time you are trying to deal with steep increases in gas prices, utility costs and health insurance premiums? How much room do most families have to simply tighten their belts before a downturn leads to real hardships?

Oklahoma's budget situation is most akin to a moderate-income household that is already just scraping by. There is always some room to economize to weather a short or mild downturn, but the reality is that in many vital areas of public service, we are already starting in a hole. If we dig deeper and cut further, at some point we will hit the bottom. Oklahomans cannot afford to respond with resignation to the budget challenges ahead and imagine that things will somehow just take care of themselves. Of course, we must again scrutinize our budgets and look for ways to get by with less. But cutting budgets must not be our only option.

We should be willing to tap into a portion of the Rainy Day funds set aside precisely for these occasions, at least while other options are being explored. We should consider suspending or abolishing unnecessary tax incentives and exemptions. And if the only alternative is deep and harmful cuts to education, human services, public safety and transportation, we must be willing to at least put tax increases on the table.

The last time the state entered a budget downturn, following the relatively mild economic recession of 2001-02, the cumulative budget shortfall approached $1.2 billion. Adjusting for budget growth and policy changes, a budget downturn comparable in magnitude to the last one would create a shortfall of just under $2 billion in the years ahead. It will take more than a little belt tightening to tackle a number like that.

Blatt is director of policy for the Oklahoma Policy Institute in Tulsa, and chairman of the Alliance for Oklahoma's Future.

We should be willing to tap into a portion of the Rainy Day funds set aside precisely for these occasions, at least while other options are being explored. We should consider suspending or abolishing unnecessary tax incentives and exemptions.