The Bartlesville City Council voted to approve the 2023-24 Fiscal Year operating and capital budgets during a meeting held June 5. The budgets go into effect on July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.
The FY 2023-24 operating budget is based on a projected 2 percent decline in sales tax, which is the City’s primary funding source. The projected revenue decline is due to uncertainties in the economy, including inflation and a possible recession.
Total resources and revenue in the General Fund are expected to exceed $36.5 million, with expenditures totaling $34.4 million.
Highlights include:
- Sales tax is expected to generate approximately $22.6 million during the next fiscal year. Sales tax revenue funds most City services and departments except utilities.
- The City’s use tax, which went into effect Jan. 1, is estimated to generate about $2.5 million over the next fiscal year.
- A total of $1.2 million has been allocated for the Stabilization Reserve Fund, which currently stands at $13.2 million.
- The budget includes the addition of two police officer positions to patrol City parks.
- Utility rate hikes totaling about 5.5 percent will start July 1. The increases are based on a comprehensive water and wastewater rate study conducted in 2020-21, which included recommendations for new rates sufficient to support the operations of the system and capital fees to support mandatory improvements to the system.
- Appropriations were approved Monday totaling $803,750 for the Bartlesville Development Authority and $402,000 for Visit Bartlesville, both of which are independent contractors to the City of Bartlesville. The BDA serves as the economic development arm of the City, while Visit Bartlesville serves as the tourism division. (Visit Bartlesville formerly operated under the umbrella of the BDA but will operate independently going forward.)
Capital projects approved
The City Council on Monday voted to approve funding for project proposed in the 2023-24 Fiscal Year Capital Budget. Funding for the projects has been identified through the 2020 Half-cent Sales Tax Extenstion and the Enterprise Fund 5-Year Capital plans
Projects set for funding during FY 2023-24 include:
- Equipment for Wastewater Treatment Plant
- Preventative Maintenance street repair
- Mulch for playgrounds
- Shade structure replacements at Sooner and Frontier pools
- Drainage materials
- Improvements to City Hall
- Tyler software update contract
- Strategic Plan Comprehensive Plan Update
- Thermal imaging cameras for the fire department
- Patrol unit technology replacement for the police department
- Pumper truck for fire department
- Downtown Landscaping
- Materials for water line replacements
- Equipment for street department
- Five automated trucks, two rear load trucks and two roll off trucks for sanitation
- Vehicle replacements for general fund departments
- Body-worn cameras for police department
- PCs, monitors and other IT equipment
- Library server replacement
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