A nonprofit that analyzes state finances has given Oklahoma a D grade.
"Oklahoma has accumulated over $5 billion in unfunded debt, debt beyond the assets available to pay the bills, which, in our framework, really represents costs for services that were delivered to citizens in the past but they're effectively going to have to be paid by future taxpayers," said Truth in Accounting Research Director Bill Bergman.
Truth in Accounting’s analysis looks at all of a state’s liabilities, including pension debt that’s often excluded from balance sheets. The report says nearly $9 billion worth of unfunded pension benefits are part of Oklahoma's liabilities, but that figure may be too low.
"It looks like Oklahoma and the pension plans in Oklahoma are using mortality tables from 2000 that may have to be updated to more recent tables. That imply higher unfunded liabilities than are even recorded in current results," Bergman said.
Oklahoma was not alone — or even among just a few — to get a D for its finances.
"A D may sound bad, but it's about average for the 50 states," Bergman said. "The position has deteriorated in Oklahoma in recent years with the challenge of declining energy prices."
In all, 19 states received D grades from Truth in Accounting. Only nine states got A's or B's, which meant they had a surplus.
