Mayor Bynum presents proposed budget for 2024-2025 fiscal year to Tulsa City Council

TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum presented the proposed budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year to the Tulsa City Council. The total proposed budget is $1.023 billion.

“This budget will be my last as Tulsa’s mayor, and I am extremely grateful for the support from the Council and City staff over the past eight years,” Bynum said. “As I look ahead to whoever our next mayor will be, it’s important to me that this budget is balanced so that when the next administration comes in, they can hit the ground running and have the financial resources available to follow through on the mandate voters have given them.”

The budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year was about $982.6 million.

According to the City, the new proposed budget would:

• Restore the City’s emergency operating reserve to a level of 8.5 percent of the general fund.
• Protect compensation increases from the past several years and provide an across-the-board 2 percent pay increase for all employees in the coming year.
• Add two new positions to the Tulsa Fire side of the 911 Center.
• Provide for a new app that will give instant direct connection between first responders and citizens.
• Follow through on significant capital projects, including operations of the new Public Safety Center and Zink Lake.
• Fund a 2-year program to convert City-owned highway lights to LEDs through the voter-approved PSO Franchise Agreement.
• Create a Homeless Program Lead who will work with City leadership and external stakeholders in the development, implementation, and monitoring of City-led homelessness efforts as part of the Path to Home initiative.
• Adjust utility rates to keep Tulsa in line with the cost to deliver service:
  3 percent increase for water (does not impact residential customers inside city limits).
  3 percent increase for sewer.
  15 percent for stormwater.
  9 percent for refuse and recycling.

For the full proposed budget, click here.

The City Tulsa Council will review and discuss the proposed budget and must approve the budget at least seven days before June 30, the end of the City’s fiscal year. After a budget has been approved, the 2024-2025 fiscal year will start July 1.

Bynum’s full budget speech can be found here.