Eastern Oklahoma State College’s meat processing plant held a ribbon cutting for its renovation last week. Eastern’s remodel was funded through a $600,000 Department of Agriculture grant last year. Governor Stitt prioritized projects that would have generational effects. I believe this qualifies. It should help address a supply shortage of meat and meat products in this area.
Another good sign – our local senior citizens’ centers seem to be reopening slowly, McAlester’s Stipe Center is open for business. Indianola recently hired a new chef, and hopefully they can resume meeting in person in the near future. I believe these centers provide so much more than just nutritional value for our seniors. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to interrupt the domino game at Red Oak’s center most mornings.
The Legislature will be coming back into special session on June 13. Our first duty will be to convene in the special session the governor has called for the purpose of eliminating the state sales tax on groceries and reducing the personal income tax for all Oklahomans. These are both measures the House passed this year, but they didn’t make it all the way through the Senate. What will likely happen is we will expand the call for the Legislature’s special session to have a more complete discussion of all tax relief options.
In the meantime, state tax collections rose again in May. The 5.9% rise from a year ago, however, was the slowest increase recorded in 10 months and likely shows the slowdown in spending by Oklahomans increasingly hurt by inflation.
That news came from State Treasurer Randy McDaniel. He noted that May’s increase of in sales and use tax collections was outpaced by the current rate of inflation, which is at 8.3%. Energy prices are up a whopping 30.3% from a year ago, and food costs are up by 9.4%.
The treasurer reported state tax collections over the preceding 12 months of $16.48 billion, up by $2. 6 billion, or 18.8%, compared to the previous 12-month period.
As always, thank You for allowing me to serve you. It is a true pleasure. If there is ever anything I can do for you, I can be reached at (405) 557-7381 or by email at jim.grego@okhouse.gov.
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