News Release

PRESTON L. DOERFLINGER Director and Secretary of Finance and Revenue

MARY FALLIN Governor

Sept. 29, 2011
For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
RON JENKINS
Public Information Officer
Oklahoma Office of State Finance
(405) 521-3267

THE OFFICE OF STATE FINANCE, A BRIEF HISTORY
5 Directors of State Finance have Served as Secretaries of Finance Since 1986 Law Created Cabinet

Preston Doerflinger is the fifth director of the Office of State Finance to also serve as secretary of finance and revenue since the governor's cabinet system was formally created by a 1986 state law.

Since 1987, every OSF director appointed by a first-term governor also has been tapped to be secretary of finance and revenue.

The first was economics professor Alexander Holmes, named to the dual role after Henry Bellmon succeeded George Nigh as governor. Next was banker Jack E. White during the one term of Gov. David Walters.

Tom Daxon, a former state auditor and inspector, served as OSF director and finance secretary during the 2 terms of Gov. Frank Keating, Walters' successor.

The next governor, Brad Henry, chose banker Scott Meacham to be OSF director and his finance secretary. Meacham retained the cabinet post after he was subsequently appointed state treasurer.  

Doerflinger was the elected Tulsa city auditor when he was appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin as OSF director and finance secretary in her cabinet. He succeeded Meacham as finance secretary and Michael Clingman as OSF director.

Doerflinger took over an agency whose duties have been ever expanding since it was created in 1947 as the Budget Division of the Executive Branch of state government. Before the cabinet system, the head of the agency was known first as budget director, then finance director.

Since its beginnings, the agency has been responsible for formulating the budgets of governors, according to their priorities, as well as having other monitoring, accounting and reporting functions associated with revenue flow and budgeting. OSF works with state agencies to help them pay their bills and keep their accounts and financial systems in order.

OSF is responsible for providing packets of revenue information to the Equalization Board for making official estimates of revenues expected to accrue to the state each year. It also produces the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report under the direction of the State Comptroller, an OSF official.

For decades, the OSF has generated monthly General Revenue Fund reports, which are released by the secretary of finance. The reports are compiled from official net Oklahoma Tax Commission collections and revenues from other sources. The GRF is the main source of agency funding.

OSF is the state's chief information agency for the budget and revenue and the director/finance secretary informs elected officials, bond rating agencies and the media on the state's financial condition.

The director of OSF is designated in state law as the official who triggers prorated agency budget cuts in the event of a revenue failure in compliance with the Budget-Balancing Amendment of the Oklahoma Constitution.

New technologies have led to expansion of OSF throughout its history, including creation of the Information Services Division, now under the direction of Alex Pettit, the state's first chief of information technology.

In recent years, OSF has been in the forefront of efforts to increase transparency in state government, with development of the OpenBooks and data.ok.gov websites.
In 2011, Governor Fallin signed into law 2 major consolidation bills designed to improve the efficiency of state government.

The new laws took effect in August, greatly expanding the role of OSF. One law folded four significant agencies into OSF — the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Central Services, the Oklahoma State and Education Employee Group Insurance Board and the Employees Benefits Council.

The other consolidation statute combined virtually all information technology services and placed them in OSF and under the control of the CIO, a cabinet-level position.

###