Grass is shaping up to be a point of contention in Tulsa’s 2016 budget.
More money means more frequent mowing. Streets and Stormwater Director Terry Ball says $645,000 has been budgeted right now.
"What that will do, is it will allow for seven mowing cycles. That'll be closer to your 30-day [cycles]," Ball said. "When we had shown it originally with the 10 cycles, that was allowing you to do a 21-day mowing cycle."
City Councilor Phil Lakin wants to see another $180,000 in the budget for mowing so there are 10 cycles.
"This is not life-or-death stuff in mowing, but it bothers me to no end to see our medians and our intersections so cluttered and grown over with grass and weeds," Lakin said. "I think it's unsightly for our citizens and our visitors."
Councilor Blake Ewing brought up an idea that wasn’t implemented last year.
"Do we have an idea, do you guys remember if there was discussed how much it would just cost to plant tall grasses and wildflowers?" Ewing said. "And could we make some investments maybe with these dollar bills you're talking about to [pull] the grass out and throw some tall grass and wildflowers in and cut those mowing cycles down?"
Councilors are currently in the process of finalizing the 2016 fiscal year budget.
