OKC budget funds Sunday bus service

City Manager Jim Couch proposed Tuesday that Oklahoma City add bus service on Sundays.

Sunday transit would erase a long-standing blot on Oklahoma City as an outlier among major cities.

“That deserves a round of applause, really,” Ward 6 Councilwoman Meg Salyer told Jason Ferbrache, the city’s public transportation director.

“We’ve been working ... for years to try and figure out how to accomplish this,” she said.

Adding limited evening bus service several years ago was a plus and showed the promise, Salyer said.

“Every time you’ve made a change it’s made a difference and we’ve been able to increase ridership and do all the things we wanted to,” she said.

Ferbrache detailed the planned changes as the city council began review of Couch’s record $1.57 billion budget for 2018-19.

The amount may stand as a high-water mark in city history.

A significant portion of the $437.5 million MAPS 3 has in the bank is expected to be spent — primarily on the downtown park, streetcar and convention center — in the coming year.

“So, we’ve got all that

cash here that will not be in the budget next year,” Couch said.

In his budget message, Couch said the city was expecting sales tax revenue to grow about 3 percent in fiscal 2019. Sales tax is the city’s single most significant revenue source.

Sales tax has been on the rebound for a year.

Couch said 2019 “may prove to be an important bridge year” as the city moves out of the regional recession triggered by the oil-and-gas slump and into a period of growth.

The council will review the budget in public hearings May 15 and May 29, with plans to vote on adoption June 5. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Buses, streetcar

Ferbrache said daytime Sunday buses could begin running in January or February.

Budget documents say Sunday bus service, on the same schedule as Saturdays, would cost $1.475 million, including $931,000 from the city. Fares and federal funds make up the balance.

Buses would run hourly on 16 routes between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Plans also call for adding evening service on Route 22 between downtown and NE 63 Street along N Martin Luther King Avenue.

Streetcar service is still planned to begin in December, with regular service limited to Mondays through Saturdays. Streetcars are to run Sundays for special events, such as Thunder games.

What’s in

Couch gave department directors discretion to seek funding above their base budgets for 2018-19 to enhance services, from policing to street maintenance.

Proposals making the cut include:

• $1.2 million to replace aging, unreliable camera systems aboard the city’s two police helicopters.

• $220,000 for crashresistant fuel tanks for the helicopters, to enhance crew safety.

The budget includes a net increase of 36 positions.

With the previous addition

of 186 police and fire positions funded by the voter-approved quartercent sales tax increase that took effect Jan. 1, the authorized workforce grows to 4,803.

Notable personnel changes include:

• Addition of five project managers in Public Works to implement MAPS for streets and bond projects.

• Addition of 12 positions in Public Works to improve response when utility lines are damaged.

• Addition of two positions at the animal shelter and one animal welfare field officer.

• Addition of two positions primarily to maintain new soccer fields at Lightning Creek Park.

• Deletion of 27 positions at Civic Center Music Hall as the city turns over operation of the building to the Civic Center Foundation.