About the Office

State Treasury Review
Fiscal Year 2006

It looks like a bank, it works like a bank, it must be a bank. In fact, the Office of the Treasurer of State is a bank for the State. Every day the Office accepts deposits, reconciles accounts, prepares statements, and answers customer’s questions. As a bank for the State, the Office provides the same services for the State as the private banks do for their customers.

On an average day, the Office accepts more than $56.5 million in deposits – taxes, fees, and other payments made by the people of Arkansas – and credits them to the proper account. These deposits are made up of electronic fund transfers, cash, and checks. On an average day, approximately 5,000 checks are processed through the Receiving Department. Treasury reconciles over 8,500 accounts daily, representing the funds of more than 200 State agencies. In fiscal year 2006, $13.5 billion in receipts were processed and $13.2 billion state warrants were redeemed. Total receipts have increased 7.14% over the 2005 fiscal year, while warrant redemptions have increased 7.31% in the same time period. For Fiscal 2006, we distributed to state agencies $3.9 billion in general revenues and $1.6 billion in special revenues.

The Treasurer is responsible for state aid to local governments. During the year ended June 30, 2006, general and special revenues distributed to cities and counties amounted to $422 million, distribution of local sales and use taxes was $808 million, for a combined total of state aid to local governments of $1.2 billion.

The Office is daily accountable for approximately $2.9 billion in Treasury funds. Today there is $1.1 billion in Arkansas financial institutions working for you. Based on Arkansas’ population of 2.6 million, that represents over $423 per person. These funds are invested and earning interest at all times. Investments earned over $83 million in interest income during the 2006 fiscal year. At the same time, $3.4 million was expended for operations. When comparing the interest earned on investments to the operating budget, the following conclusion can be reached: for each dollar expended, $24 was earned. Table 1 illustrates in more detail: