“If I could have attached my name to the treasurer’s commentary I would have,” Doerflinger said. “It was spot-on and needed to be said.”

Specifically, he said the state has balanced the budget with one-time fixes, sometimes ignored the long-term consequences of a deal, misapplied a temporary windfall, shortchanged pension obligations and ignored financial checks and balances.

One-time money

In his June 30 Oklahoma Economic Report, Miller noted that writers of the 2014 state budget reduced to $126 million the use of one-time sources of funding, but this figure grew to $292 million in the 2015 budget. The state has been able to tap into accounts such as the Unclaimed Property Fund to increase spending without increasing taxes, but once such accounts have been reduced they may not be able to support subsequent withdrawals to boost budgets in later years.

Doerflinger said he and the governor believe there needs to be less reliance on one-time funding sources, but the budget agreement is a collaboration between the executive branch as well as the Oklahoma House and the Senate — sometimes called a three-legged stool.

“In this budget, that was still my position, that we should not be relying on one-time money for reoccurring expenses,” he said. “But it’s a three-legged stool. The Legislature was less willing to continue down that path.”