Tulsa City Council Pushes Back On Budget Cuts

TULSA, OK -- The Tulsa City Council delayed what would normally be a routine budget change, in order to force more discussion of how the administration handled funding for the police department.

 

The Council was to act Thursday evening on a $7,597,000 budget reduction amendment, but tabled it and put in on a discussion agenda for next Tuesday. The delay in the amendment doesn't cost the city anything because it's only the paperwork that formalizes changes already in place.

 

Councilor Bill Christiansen said he believes the city wasted a $316,767 payout that was made to 35 police officers who were rehired a month later.

 

Christiansen doesn't believe the city was required to layoff the officers in order to qualify for the federal grant money that was used to hire them back. 

 

 

"This severance package, this $316,000 could have been used to retain six or seven additional officers, but it wasn't" said Christiansen.

 

In previous council discussions of the grant, Mayor's Chief of Staff Terry Simonson insisted the layoffs had to occur as a "triggering event" before the city could ask that the grant money be used for regular salaries.  Simonson said he was told that by former Police Chief Ron Palmer.  The Fraternal Order of Police has also argued the city could have applied for the money before the layoffs happened, and possibly prevented the layoff of 35 officers.

 

The city laid off 124 officers January 29th and hired back 35 of them March 1st. 

Their salaries for 17 months will be paid from a grant the department was using for such things as computer equipment and overtime for meth lab cleanup.  The Justice Department approved a request from the City to redirect the grant money into regular salaries.

 

The city and the union continue talks over salary concessions that would bring back the other officers, and another meeting is scheduled for next week.