State Agencies Accumulating Cash
Stashes of cash are tucked away in Oklahoma state agency accounts
By Randy Ellis
While state lawmakers have been wringing the budget to scrape together money for a small income tax cut, millions of dollars in cash has been accumulating in some of the obscure corners of about 2,700 state agency accounts, records reveal.
Some of the stashed cash is being squirreled away for emergencies. Some is being held for long-term projects. Other accounts have been tied up in legislative squabbles, or abandoned and all but forgotten.
Money stashed in agency accounts became an issue for the state Department of Corrections recently when it was discovered the agency had about $22 million held in three revolving funds. The department was asking for a $6.4 million supplemental appropriation at the time — a request that since has been withdrawn.
But the Corrections Department is far from the only agency with stockpiled cash.