Make your voice heard
Here are ways you can help shape the 2021-22 OKC budget.
Oklahoma City residents have new ways to comment on the city manager’s proposed budget for fiscal 2022. Here’s how to make your voice heard and a few things to know about the $1.649 billion spending plan:
Public comment: The city council set a 20-day period to take public comments on the budget outside the regular public hearings on Tuesdays. To comment, fill out a form at okc.gov/budget, send a text message to 405-252-1053, or email budgetcomments@okc.gov by
• Public hearings: The city council will conduct public hearings on the budget May 18, June 1, and before final adoption June 8. Transit, parks, utilities and public works directors will be among those making presentations. Meetings begin at 8:30 a.m. and, initially, will be virtual. The end of the statewide COVID-19 emergency means meetings could return to in-person, though when or under what conditions are unknown.
Three things to know
• Police reform: Ward 2 Councilman James Cooper says $300,000 for a pilot program to develop an alternative to having police respond to all mental health-related calls “is encouraging, especially considering a similar program in Denver” was started with $200,000. He says the city manager’s overall commitment of $1.3 million to public safety alternatives “is historic. … Much work remains but this is a start.” Oklahoma City police say they responded to 19,481 mental health-related calls in 2020. That is an average of two per hour every day for the entire year.
• The lost year: The general fund covers day-to-day operating expenses, such as for police, fire and parks. It is up 6.8% for fiscal 2022 after a 5.6% reduction last year. Better-than-projected results over the last 10 months and optimism that economic fallout from the pandemic will ease mean the budget returns to about where it was in 2019.
• Priorities: Public safety comprises 63% of general fund expenditures, a constant for municipal budgets. By comparison, culture and recreation is 11%.