Municipal Money Matters

Previous budget meetings had left members of the Tulsa City Council expecting bad news, so there weren't a whole lot of surprises last week when Mayor Kathy Taylor formally presented her proposed fiscal year 2010 budget to the group.

But that didn't make the specifics any easier to swallow.

Taylor's proposed budget of $578 million is $8 million tighter than last year's. To make up for that shortfall, the mayor is proposing the elimination of 96 positions on the city staff, as well as mandatory, four-day furloughs for all employees. Taylor also has proposed rate increases for city water and sewer services.

"The downturn in the national economy is having a direct impact on city revenues," Taylor said. "Just like a business or a family, we must balance our budget, and this year, cuts had to be made. This is the first budget year I have not been able to recommend salary increases for employees."

District 1 Councilor Jack Henderson noted there was some good news in the budget in that of the 96 positions that the mayor targeted for elimination, 77 currently are vacant, meaning that in terms of the loss of real jobs, the impact on people will be much less severe.

District 9 Councilor G.T. Bynum said implementing job cuts and furloughs will be difficult, given the fact that so many city employees are unionized, but he said the national economic downturn has had an obvious impact on Tulsa's economy. He praised the mayor's ability to avoid placing the jobs of more city workers on the chopping block.

"The fact that she was able to find a way to avoid as many layoffs as possible, I thought, was a good thing," he said. "At first glance, I feel like she's doing everything she can to keep the city above water and the employees at work."

Councilor Rick Westcott of District 2 praised the thorough job done by the city's Finance Department in coming up with a preliminary budget, but he hinted there would be some tinkering by the council.

"More than likely, some public policy decisions the mayor placed in the budget, we do need to take a look at, meaning do we fund this institution or that," he said. "But that's the council's job."

Taylor said the job cuts and furloughs are unavoidable, citing the fact that 77 percent of the city's operating fund is tied up in salaries. In order to avoid additional layoffs, the mayor said, all employees will be required to take four furlough days during the next fiscal year, reflecting a temporary, one-time 1.54-percent salary reduction.

Westcott is concerned about the city's options in regard to proposed furloughs for police officers and firefighters. He said even if the unions for both agree to the furloughs, he questions whether the city would be worse off by implementing them.

"In some cases, certain (police) squads might be short staffed and have to call in off-duty officers and pay them overtime," he said, outlining a potential scenario he would rather avoid. "So my question is, do we have a net loss of money? Are we paying more in overtime than we would without the furloughs?"

The council has until June 23 to approve a final budget, and Henderson said the group has its work cut out for it.

"Some tough decisions need to be made by the council over the next few weeks as far as the budget it concerned," he said.

District 5 Councilor Bill Martinson was reluctant to weigh in on the mayor's proposed budget, saying he hadn't had time to digest all the numbers. But he also foresees some difficult decisions ahead for the council.

"It's going to be tough for us," he said. "I think the thing we need to do is knuckle down and make sure we challenge all the assumptions they used when they made the budget."

Henderson said one area of Taylor's proposed budget that he found most displeasing was the proposal to raise water and sewer rates. The proposed rates would increase utility bills by $2.47 a month for the average residential customer, though no increases are scheduled for emergency medical services or trash collection.

"It seems like every year we have to raise sanitary sewer rates," he said. "I represent a lot of people who can't afford that, and that makes me uncomfortable. But the other side of that is, if we don't address that and let it go, we'll be in the same position we were in with our streets."

Henderson worries that by putting off an investment in such infrastructure, the impact will only be more painful when it can no longer be avoided.

"When do you fix it? When do you get it straight?" he asked. "That's one of the tougher calls I'm going to have to make ... We've got our work cut out for us."

Bynum said he was impressed with the mayor's willingness to propose a utility rate increase in a year when she is running for re-election.

"Rate increases are never popular, but the fact is, we should be paying to keep the city services we really need," he said.

And like Henderson, Bynum fears Tulsa is falling behind in its work on water and sewer line infrastructure.

"Those have gotten out of whack," he said of utility rates. "We're not paying for the service we get because it's probably been more politically expedient to put off those rate increases. We've gotten behind to where we're at a dangerous point, and I don't think most Tulsans realize that."

Bynum also welcomed the mayor's proposal to fund academies for the police and fire department to put more public safety personnel on the streets.

"Public safety was the No. 1 issue that had to be addressed, for me and for the council," he said.

Henderson doesn't anticipate an especially rancorous process as the council hammers out a final budget. Henderson said he believes each member of the council is sensitive to the interests of the citizens who put them in office and city government employees, as well as the financial limits the city faces.

"I think it will be a smoother budget process than it was last year," he said, indicating that every member of the council now has been through the process at least once. "Having that experience under your belt makes it a lot easier to deal with."

Westcott doesn't expect his fellow councilors to agree on everything as the budget approval process unfolds, but he's not anticipating many problems, either.

"This council is able to disagree without being disagreeable," he said. "There may be some discussion and difference of opinion, but I have every confidence this council will work through these differences in the proper way."

Bynum said the council's budget committee has heard presentations from the heads of various city departments over the past several weeks in an attempt to identify each department's successes and problems.

"That's given us a good handle on where city government is and where city government needs to go," he said.

And while he acknowledged the process will be a challenging one, Bynum said he believed the council is up to the task.

"Last year, the budget process was largely overshadowed by the compilation of the streets program," he said. "But this year, we've dealt with the majority of issues and now we can focus on the budget."