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Tulsa City Council Must Decide How to Use Nearly $3M in Unallocated Funds

Matt Trotter
/
KWGS

In the seven weeks they have to fine tune next year’s budget, Tulsa city councilors will also have to decide what to do with $2.8 million in unallocated funds that will carry over.

Councilors can add them to the city’s version of a rainy day fund or apply them to a list of $1.4 million worth of needs.

"So, it's just a matter of kind of balancing those interests and considering whether we need to shore up those reserves or address some critical, one-time expenditures," said Jack Blair, Mayor G.T. Bynum's chief of staff.

For example, eight city pools no longer in use are being filled with trash and graffiti. Those could all be addressed for $493,000.

"Eugene Field, for example, they added a community garden where an old pool used to sit, so there are some opportunities there," Blair said.

Other items on that $1.4 million list include purchasing parking meters, helicopter pilot training, park and golf course maintenance, and treating city-owned trees to prevent emerald ash borer infestation.

The city’s rainy day fund is tapped during sluggish economic conditions, which will be done this fiscal year to the tune of more than $2 million. Otherwise, the unallocated fund balance would be roughly $5 million.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.