Mayor Presents FY23 City of Tulsa Budget

4/20/2022

Proposed FY 23-23 Budget | Mayor Bynum's Speech to the Tulsa City Council

This evening, Mayor G.T. Bynum presented the proposed Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget to the Tulsa City Council with a total proposed budget of $944.9 million.   

The proposal represents an increase of $145.5 million, or 18.2% more than the FY22 original adopted budget.  

Mayor Bynum’s budget speech and the proposed FY23 budget can be found at www.cityoftulsa.org/budget.   

Key items that the FY23 budget proposal would fund include: 

Hiring/Compensation 

• $16/hour minimum wage for full-time employees  
• Pay increases for qualified workers  
• Two additional HR analysts to help fill positions  
• $75,000 marketing resources budget for HR/Communications to deploy hiring campaign 
• Ten additional Customer Care (311) agents  

Public Safety  

• 90 cadets – the maximum number for TPD  
• $50,000 increase in police recruiting budget  
• 30 Fire Department cadets to ensure TFD remains fully staffed 
• Training for 20 new paramedics within TFD 
• Establishment of a Real-Time Information Center 
• Replacement of 50 consoles in 911 Call Center 
• $3.8 million in priority equipment for TFD, including renewal of protective bunker gear, capital equipment and apparatus replacement.  
• Expansion of the Community Response Team (CRT) program  

City Services  

• Continuance of additional security at City parks to reduce vandalism 
• Additional $200,000 for the Working in Neighborhoods (WIN) for abatements to address code violations not remedied by property owners.  
• WIN administrative assistant to ease the burden on special events permitting and oversize load permits 
• Funding to support City’s investment in Zink Lake 
• $2 million for implementation of the Kirkpatrick Heights Master Plan  
• $1 million to continue 1921 Graves excavation and DNA analysis   
• Addition of prosecutor in the Legal Department to assist with night court and an additional City Attorney to assist the City Council with legal needs  
• Funding of the Municipal Employees’ Retirement Plan and following the process in the FY22 budget, a 1% increase required by the Plan’s actuary is split between employees and the City, who will both contribute 0.5% more in FY23.  

• Continued funding for street maintenance, pavement markings and striping, highway lighting, and traffic signalization 

Utilities, Stormwater, EMSA & Solid Waste 

• No increase in water rates for FY23, and a 3% increase for FY24
• 7% revenue increase for sanitary sewer system in FY23, the originally planned increase
• 8.5% rate increase for the stormwater system to allow the City to continue implementing the operational services began in FY22 and move toward the direct funding of large stormwater capital projects that have been included in Citywide capital programs
• No rate changes for trash service or emergency medical services in FY23 

Capital Budget  

• $120.4 million capital budget for directly funded projects, net of transfers 
• Includes $36.9 million in sales tax funded projects from the 2022 Improve Our Tulsa II program 
• Funding for critical projects for Police, Fire, Parks, Citywide Public Facilities, Economic Development Infrastructure, Transit rolling stock and Capital Equipment 
• $3.9 million for apparatus replacement for TFD 
• $4.0 million to fully fund the construction of a new parking garage for the Veterans Hospital to be constructed in downtown Tulsa 
• $14.3 million for Capital Equipment. 
• Higher levels of direct funding for water and sewer capital projects from enterprise funds 
• $49.8 million for water treatment plant work, supply system repairs, water line replacement and relocation projects 
• $33.4 million for sewer treatment plants, pipe replacement and other system work 
• $5.4 million for stormwater pipe extensions, drainage improvements associated with roadway projects, small critical drainage projects and detention pond rehabilitation 
• $65.3 million for nine projects, with the largest allocation going toward debt service 

The Tulsa City Council will review and discuss the Mayor’s proposed budget and must approve a budget for the upcoming fiscal year at least seven days prior to June 30, the end of the City’s fiscal year. After the budget has been approved, Fiscal Year 22-23 will begin July 1.