Tulsa City Council Unanimously Approves City Budget

The Tulsa City Council voted on Wednesday night to approve the largest proposed city budget in Tulsa’s history.

This was the first time the budget was more than $1 billion.

Tulsa City Councilors unanimously approved the budget at Wednesday night’s meeting.

Mayor GT Bynum thanked the councilors for their collaborative effort in putting together the 2025 budget.

The $1.03 billion budget is about $53 million more than 2024’s budget.

It includes $200,000 for new positions and support at Tulsa Animal Welfare, a 2% pay bump for all city employees, and funding for the new Public Safety Center and Zink Lake projects.

The city’s also increasing utility rates for water, sewer, stormwater and trash.

Those increases are to pay for the service because, by law, the city can't make a profit.

To pay for the budget, the city gets about half the money from taxes, a third of it from service fees and the rest from other fees.

The new budget will go into effect July 1 once Mayor Bynum signs it.