The Bartlesville City Council heard staff reports on the 2026-27 Fiscal Year operating and capital budgets during a workshop meeting held April 21.
No action was taken on the items during the meeting, with final approval of the budgets expected to be considered next month. The budgets will go into effect on July 1, when the City’s new fiscal year begins.
Sales tax
“As with previous years, we have taken a conservative approach to estimating sales tax results and, due to uncertainties such as inflation, labor costs, shrinkage of the labor pool, the ongoing war in Iran, the potential for recession and rising oil prices, we are budgeting for a 1 percent overall decline in sales tax from FY 2025-26 to FY 2026-27,” said Chief Financial Officer/City Clerk/Treasurer Jason Muninger. “This provides a $234,000, or 1 percent, decrease in sales tax across the entire organization.”
Muninger said a decline is expected in use tax revenues as well. Use tax is a sales tax applied to online purchases.
“In FY 2025-26, we estimated that use tax would provide about $4.7 million total, but actual results have exceeded these early estimates,” he said. “We now expect to receive about $5.3 million in FY 2025-26. Based on these results, we are estimating $5.2 million in use tax revenue in FY 2026-27, which is a 2 percent decrease compared to the current fiscal year.”
Utilities
Muninger said the City is currently conducting a comprehensive water and wastewater cost of service analysis that will cover a five-year period and will include rates sufficient to pay for operations, maintenance and known capital expenses — including major wastewater plant upgrades that are mandated by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.
“While this analysis will not be completed until later this year, we have the information related to the rates necessary for FY 2026-27,” he said. “On average, a residential customer can expect their utility bill to rise about $15.69 per month for an overall increase of 13.4 percent.”
Rate increases included in the proposed budget are:
Water Rates:
- Water base rates will increase by about 22 percent
- Water volumetric rates will increase by about 24 percent
- Water capital investment fees will increase by about 25 percent
Wastewater Rates:
- Wastewater base rates will increase by about 5 percent
- Wastewater volumetric rates will increase by about 5 percent
- Wastewater capital investment fees will increase by about 13 percent
Sanitation Rates:
- Sanitation cart rates will increase by about 7.5 percent
- Sanitation commercial rates will increase by about 7.5 percent
City Manager Mike Bailey said the proposed rate increases are higher than in previous years due to inflation significantly outpacing expectations, as well as a weather-related reduction in water use by City of Bartlesville water customers.
“While we do not know if these weather patterns will continue, we now have enough data to indicate a trend,” Bailey said. “This trend predicts less water consumption, which will result in significantly less revenues from our volumetric rates.”
Economy
Muninger said that overall, the local economy appears to be performing well.
“Our restaurant offerings have increased over the last several years with the addition of a Schlotzsky’s, Tropical Smoothie Café, Scooter’s Coffee, HTeaO, Bricktown Brewery, Whataburger, Jimmy’s Egg, 7 Brew Coffee, Dutch Bros Coffee, Remi’s Arcade, Palace Rooms, and Lollipops Woodfire and Grocery,” he said. “Existing restaurants have also undergone substantial upgrades and expansions, including Luigi’s, Wendy’s and McAlister’s. This growth has fueled a facelift for some of our most prominent properties, and discussions about additional retail offerings in the next year are again positive.
“Primary job opportunities have also continued to improve over the last few years. The Bartlesville Development Authority and the City Council approved major incentives for new businesses Lincoln Electric and Blue Whale and another major expansion of ABB. These three opportunities are already exceeding the original expectations of bringing over 230 new jobs to our community. Additionally, the old Good Shepherd Church property is in the planning phase for some exciting retail opportunities.”
Personnel
One new position for City staff is proposed for the upcoming year with the conversion of temporary labor to a fulltime maintenance worker. This will have zero net effect on the budget, Muninger said. Some reclassifications are proposed as well, including converting an existing engineer position to drafting technician as well as eliminating an unfilled firefighter position to help fund fire inspection services.
“Our current staffing levels in the fire marshal’s office do not allow for the effective completion of all of this office’s duties,” Bailey said. “Negotiations to address this within the contract with the fire union were unsuccessful, so we have no choice but to contract for these services as necessary. While the union contract controls much of what happens in our fire department, we cannot let it impair our ability to provide necessary services to our citizens.”
Pay increases totaling a 2.5 percent Cost of Living Adjustment and 2.5 merit increases for eligible employees are proposed for all eligible employees. (Pay increases for police officers and firefighters, which are represented by unions, must be negotiated.)
Reserve Funds
During the recent economic downturn, it became evident that a more effective and consistent method of accumulating reserve funds was needed, Muninger said.
“With the guidance of the City Council, staff established several mechanisms that will aid in the City’s future financial stability,” he said. “These were the creation of the Stabilization Reserve Fund, Capital Reserve Fund, Auto Collision Insurance Fund, and the formalization of inner-fund reserve policies.
“The City’s stabilization reserve policy calls for a contribution equal to 2 percent of the operating budget of these four funds until the maximum level is reached. The maximum level is defined as 35 percent of the operating budget of the fund. The minimum level set by the ordinance is 16 percent of the operating budget of the fund. All funds have now reached the minimum level but are years from the maximum level.”
Capital projects proposed
Director of Engineering Micah Siemers presented projects proposed for funding during the upcoming fiscal year. Funding for the projects has been identified through the 2026 Half-cent Sales Tax Extension and the Enterprise Fund 5-Year Capital plans.
Some of the projects discussed are as follows.
- Storm siren upgrade
- Aerial Lift Truck
- Preventive Maintenance Street funding
- Police and General Fund Vehicle replacement
- IT infrastructure upgrades and PC replacement
- Greens fans for the golf course
- Community Center HVAC upgrades
- 911 Call Handling System upgrade
- Materials for Drainage Improvements
- Asphalt Patch Truck
- Backhoe/Excavator
- Rear Load Refuse Trucks (x2)
To view the draft operating budget in its entirety, see FY-26-27-Draft-Budget-1.pdf.
To view slides from the presentation, see FY 2026-27 Presentation.
The above map shows the locations of capital projects completed throughout the city using 1/2-cent Capital Improvement Project Sales Tax and General Obligation Bond funding. More than $104 million in projects have been completed with this funding since 1999. (Red shows street projects, purple denotes Pathfinder trail improvements, orange is storm sewer, and blue is water lines.)