State revenue grows again in August

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ State revenue collections improved again in August, but officials remain edgy about the state's economic recovery. ``The economy, I think, remains fragile,'' said Scott

Wednesday, September 10th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ State revenue collections improved again in August, but officials remain edgy about the state's economic recovery. ``The economy, I think, remains fragile,'' said Scott Meacham, director of the Office of State Finance. ``A negative shock could slow the modest recovery we seem to be experiencing and adversely affect future state revenues. Hopefully, the current trend will continue.''

An OSF report issued Tuesday shows revenue collections in August climbed $34.9 million, or 10.6 percent, over the same month a year ago and were $200,000, or 0.1 percent, above the estimate upon which the current state budget is based.

``We once again saw year-to-year improvement in individual income tax and sales tax collections,'' Meacham said. ``That makes four months those revenue sources have exceeded the same period a year ago.''

The biggest contributor to the increase in state revenue last month was tied to natural gas severance tax receipts.

Gas tax collections were up $11.9 million, or 53.2 percent, over a year ago and were $7.3 million, or 26.8 percent, above the estimate.