Tulsa Mayor, Some City Councilors Willing To Take Pay Cuts

By Scott Thompson and Dan Bewley, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- With talk of pay cuts for city employees, The News On 6 has been receiving e-mails from viewers who are wondering if the city council and mayor plan to cut their pay as well.

Tulsa city councilors make $18,000 a year. In addition to committee meetings, the nine men and women also attend the regular city council meeting, as well as meetings in their individual districts. 

The city is currently asking the police and fire departments to take a 5.2 percent pay cut. 

Six councilors say they have no problem taking the cut -- Rick Westcott, Maria Barnes, Chris Trail, Jim Mautino, Bill Christiansen and G.T. Bynum.

"Because it's important for us as leaders to lead by example, we shouldn't ask any city employee to do something we're not willing to do ourselves and that comes down to pay as well," said G.T. Bynum, Tulsa City Councilor.

Two councilors, John Eagleton and Jack Henderson, say they would not take a pay cut.

"We get paid less than the people that clean up the buildings, but we're responsible for all the finances. They can't spend any money without going through the city council, something's wrong with that picture," said Jack Henderson, Tulsa City Councilor.

Only Roscoe Turner is undecided. He tells The News On 6 he's still looking at the issue.

"This is the thing that everybody fails to realize, is that half the time Roscoe doesn't know what he's going to do himself until he does it. So I'm not going to try to do it to please everybody," said Roscoe Turner, Tulsa City Councilor.

As for Mayor Dewey Bartlett, he says he'll also take a cut in pay and may do it at the original rate of 8.6 percent. 

If all nine councilors and the mayor take a 5.2 percent pay cut, it will save the city a little more than $6,700 through the end of the fiscal year. That's less than a tenth of a percent of the $10 million hole in the budget.

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