City Leaders: Oklahoma City on Long Road to Financial Recover

By Kirsten McIntyre, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- City leaders met Tuesday to discuss the future of Oklahoma City's budget. Numbers showed financial relief for the city is likely a long way away, and that means tough cuts will need to be made.

"I would put us past the worst but still nine months, probably 18 months, to really feeling better. I think there's going to be a slow recovery," said Russell Evans, Oklahoma State University economist.

Going into fiscal year 2011, the budget is already $19.5 million below target.

"Sales tax is our largest source of revenue and currently what we're seeing is a significant decline in sales tax. That's beginning to have an impact on us as a city," said Craig Freeman, Oklahoma City Budget Director.

Since sales tax is down, city leaders are considering several options to save money including 12 percent cuts for all departments, reducing salaries and furlough days.

"We're going to have to look at the potential for reductions. It's just difficult to close that size of a gap without recognizing the reality that we're going to see some reduction in staffing," Freeman said.

City leaders couldn't say at this time whether those reductions would include fire and police departments.

"A lot of those things cannot be done unilaterally by the council. They have to be negotiated with the unions as we go forward, and so we'll be careful how we approach those to make sure we respect that process and have those discussions," said Oklahoma City, City Manager Jim Couch.

The budget for fiscal year 2011 will be presented to the city council in May, city leaders will then vote on it in June,  and it will go into effect in July.

The city's revenue slump isn't just affecting the city's budget. Plans to renovate the Ford Center and build the Thunder's practice facility are about $12 million short right now. City leaders are making changes to construction to make the projects cheaper.

More on News9.com: State Leaders Announce Budget Agreement