Tulsa City Council Approves Use of TARE Funds To Pay Salaries

By Emory Bryan and NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- During a marathon public hearing that went on for more than three hours Thursday evening, the Tulsa City Council approved the idea to ask the Trash Board to use Trash-To-Energy [TARE] funds to help pay salaries by a vote of 6-3.

The Tulsa Trash Board would still need to approve the plan before the money could be used.

The 6-3 vote does not mean the money transfers, just that the council will ask for $4.5 million from the TARE fund. It's an account of money from overpayments for trash service and this is half of what is available. 

The City of Tulsa Trash Board meets early next week. 

The city council has differing opinions on whether its legal to use utility payments for this, but this request from council is just to have the board look at it and see what they think.

The fund was tapped during the ice storm to pay for limb removal, but that was close enough to trash removal that no one questioned it and the money, most of it, was repaid by FEMA.

The funds would be a temporary fix as there is not enough money to cover the mounting budget deficits for the rest of the year.  

The Tulsa city council has spent most of the meeting hearing about the impact layoffs might have.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett told The News On 6, he hopes to have a plan Friday for the city's labor unions to consider.

Bartlett  has said he's working a package of salary cuts that does not include layoffs, but Thursday night it was the possibility of layoffs that kept the council occupied.

Thursday's City Council meeting was packed with citizens, police officers and firefighters as around 50 demonstrator's brave the cold to protest outside.

Mayor Bartlett started the meeting by asking the city council to pull an agenda item that could lead to the city using utility payments to pay salaries for police and fire. 

The council rejected the Mayor's request .

Sales tax numbers for the Christmas shopping season come in $2.2 million less than the same period of FY 2009.

That doesn't help the budget crisis at city hall, where there is a $10 million gap for the year between sales tax coming in and spending going out.

The impact on Tulsa Police and Fire has generated a lot of interest and councilors have gotten lots of phone calls and email about it already.

People demonstrated outside in the cold for hours, and inside, the city council room was at capacity.

A crowd of city employees, mainly police officers and firefighters, told Tulsa's 9 city councilors about the impact of cutting public safety.

"The proposed cuts that we have right now, the layoffs, I will lose 34 officers in my division, and I'm having trouble keeping pace with the rising crime rate because my area is so populated, it becomes a target rich environment for every criminal in this city," said Walter Evans, Tulsa Police officer.

The city council didn't have anything to decide but will soon have a budget decision to make.

The fire chief says the proposed cut will would require layoffs for 116 basic firefighters, and pay cuts for 121 higher up in rank.

"I know how hard firefighters and police officers worked for these positions, I think it's a horrible thing to do, but I also understand the mayor's position, he's got a $10 million dollar budget problem that he's got to solve in some way," said Tulsa Fire Chief Allen LaCroix.

The mayor has suggested across the board salary reductions could eliminate layoffs, but has not yet presented his plan.

Thursday, the council heard only about the impact layoffs would have.

"If we consider the cuts and the sheer gutting of the core services that are proposed, I cannot say I will feel safe for my family to be here," said Tulsa Police Department employee Thomas Bell.

12/30/2009 Related Story: Mayor Bartlett: Prepare For The Larger Cuts, Cut From Top, Middle As Well

01/04/2010 Related Story: Tulsa City Council Discussing Budget Cuts Tuesday, Taking Public Comment Thursday

01/06/2010 Related Story: Tulsa Police Chief Looks At More Concessions To Reduce Layoffs 

01/06/2010 Related Story: Mayor Dewey Bartlett Gives Hope For Avoiding City Layoffs