Originally Published in The Oklahoman
Written By Diana Baldwin
Staff Writer
dbaldwin [at] oklahoman [dot] com

EDMOND — City officials are preparing resolutions opposing two state questions — one calls for an additional 1 percent sales tax for Oklahoma education and the other amends the state’s constitution addressing agricultural industry rights.

State Question 779, the sales tax increase for education, and State Question 777, farm and ranch amendment, are on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The Legislative season started early, when in December of 2015 the State declared a revenue failure for the, then current, FY’16 with a projected revenue shortfall of $157M. All agencies took an 3% reduction in funds previously appropriated for FY’16 operations. The bad news didn’t stop there as it was revealed that the State was facing a $900M budget shortfall for FY ’17. As the session progressed, the shortfall grew to $1.3B.  Below find some of the highlight of what did and didn’t happen.