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Muskogee council holds public hearing, adopts FY 2025–26 budgets with modest General Fund cuts
Summary
City staff presented a balanced FY 2025–26 budget that trims about $300,000 from General Fund projections, maintains reserves just above the 20% target, and earmarks funding for streets, economic development and tourism; council adopted the city budget and related authority budgets after the public hearing.
City staff presented a balanced budget for fiscal year 2025–26 and the City Council approved the budget resolutions for the City of Muskogee and related authorities after a public hearing and committee review.
Dennis Reid, the city’s finance director (referred to in the meeting as “Dennis”), led the presentation during the finance committee public hearing, saying the city projects a small dip in General Fund revenues going into FY 2026 and has trimmed departmental requests from roughly $45.6 million to about $44.3 million. “We are projecting a reduction in our budget for the FY 26 year,” Reid said during the hearing.
Highlights and context: Staff reported the city’s reserve is at about 20.65%, slightly above the 20% policy target after a drawdown this year for unexpected expenses. The presentation flagged two sizeable cost pressures that the city could not remove from the budget: health insurance premiums (about $500,000) and increases in property/general liability premiums (noted in the presentation at roughly $152,152). The General Fund projection shows an approximate $300,000 decrease versus the prior year; staff attributed the decline largely to weaker sales and use tax collections.
The budget reflects the city’s strategic priorities — streets and infrastructure, public image, economic development, housing and tourism — and funds operations in special funds such as tourism, economic development and the Civic Center. Reid described projects funded outside the General Fund, including water and sewer capital using the city’s MMA (Municipal Management Account) and OWRB loans for water projects.
After the public hearing closed with no public speakers for the budget item, the council approved resolutions adopting the budgets for the City of Muskogee, the Muskogee Municipal Authority and the Muskogee Redevelopment Authority. The council vote to adopt the city budget was unanimous.
Why it matters: The adopted budgets preserve city services while trimming discretionary spending in response to revenue pressures. The council and staff emphasized maintaining a minimum reserve and prioritizing street and water infrastructure spending funded through dedicated sources.
Speakers quoted above are drawn from the meeting public record.
