On Monday, Gov. Mary Fallin said she wants to take $40 million from so-called “noble but noncritical” functions to help plug a $900 million budget shortfall.
"Just a few years ago, 55 cents out of every dollar we collected went to the General Revenue Fund,” Fallin said during her State of the State address. “Today, just 45 cents out of every dollar collected goes there, and it is continuing to decline."
Fallin’s proposed executive budget will pull the money from historical and recreational sites and put it back into the general revenue fund.
That could mean a loss of $1.5 million for the Oklahoma Historical Society.
OHS Director Bob Blackburn said losing 25 percent of his budget in one year could mean shutting down sites across the state, The Journal Record’s Dale Denwalt reports:
He said the sites could be transferred to local governments or tribes, or simply liquidated. Several museums have already lost state funding in recent years. The agency’s smaller operations are most vulnerable. If a historical site pays for only one employee and utility service, it wouldn’t be able to weather a proportional budget reduction, he said. Blackburn declined to name which sites and museums are most in danger of being shut down. Each one of OHS’ sites are supported by a locally organized nonprofit. Blackburn said community support could help the OHS Board of Directors decide which remain open if the cuts are implemented.
A spokesman for the state budget office said Fallin would not say where all of the $40 million will come from, because the budget is still under negotiation.
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