Oklahoma sales tax collections, revenue continue to lag

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma finance officials say collections to the state's main operating fund continued to lag behind the official estimate last month, with much of the decline blamed on slumping sales tax collections.

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services released figures on Wednesday that show monthly collections to the General Revenue Fund in July totaled $371.8 million. That amount is $17.2 million, or 4.4 percent, below the official estimate and more than 11 percent below collections from the same month last year.

July is the first month of the state's new fiscal year.

Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger says the revenue declines aren't as bad as previous months.

He says the bulk of drop was caused by sales tax collections, which missed the estimate by $12.5 million, or 7.5 percent.