City of Tulsa IT Department Under City Council Scrutiny

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Several Tulsa City Councilors have individually questioned the salaries in the city's Information Technology department. Plans to discuss the issue at Thursday night's council meeting were tabled.

The Tulsa City Council is considering a resolution that asks Mayor Dewey Bartlett to eliminate several of the newest and highest paying positions.  According to the council, eight of the IT department's highest paid employees were hired in the last four years, and their average pay is $106,500 a year - not including benefits.

2/2/2010 Related story: Tulsa City Council Backs Off Call To Cut City's IT Department

The resolution states "this recently added layer of highly paid managers has created a 'top heavy' department and is not a priority use of scarce city funds."

The city council will consider budget amendments in two weeks, reflecting recent cuts gained from salary reductions and layoffs in all departments.  The council resolution states those amendments "should reflect very close scrutiny of management costs" in Information Technology.

The IT department maintains all of the city's computer networks, including payroll, utility billing, emergency dispatching, email and Internet service.