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Council reviews several budget ordinances: park grants, small donation, police equitable-sharing funds and pandemic/opioid transfers
Summary
Councilors heard staff explanations for a string of ordinances: $45,000 in park grants (Dick’s Sporting Goods and Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust), a $1,000 Tulsa Community Foundation donation, $231,500 from equitable-sharing funds for police equipment, and budget transfers within opioid-settlement and pandemic-relief funds.
On Aug. 20 Tulsa City Councilors considered multiple budget ordinances and committee updates during their UED meeting.
Jared Moore of the budget office described a supplemental appropriation of $45,000 for the parks department, consisting of $5,000 from the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation and $40,000 from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. Moore said the funds will be used to purchase sports equipment and support community activities; Councilor Hall Harper asked whether the equipment will be dedicated to a specific park, and staff said the awards appear to be for the city as a whole with some items likely to be used on the Osage Prairie Trail in District 1. Councilor Gilbert added the grants target youth (K–12).
Councilors also considered an ordinance to appropriate a $1,000 donation recognized from the Tulsa Community Foundation for promotional and public-recognition items tied to council public-recognition protocol. The donation will be used to purchase apparel and public-recognition materials.
Another ordinance would appropriate $231,500 from the Police Department’s equitable-sharing fund balance. Staff described the source as proceeds from multi-jurisdictional law-enforcement asset seizures and said the funds would buy a digital X-ray for bomb-squad technicians, miscellaneous safety equipment, and cover a portion of a FY26 agreement for the mayor’s police-and-community coalition.
Councilors heard two budget-transfer items: $4,026,700 of transfers within the Walmart opioid settlement subfund, and $341,000 of transfers within the pandemic relief fund. Staff said the pandemic-relief transfer had been requested for further discussion after a prior committee meeting and that the mayor’s office provided an FAQ and staffing to explain the planned uses.
The HUD community development committee also presented an update on the HUD program-year 2026 priority needs and an annual action-plan process “in accordance with Title 12, Chapter 8, Section 804, paragraph f,” a staff member said. The committee reported the consolidated five-year plan started July 1 and that priorities largely remain unchanged from last year; staff characterized the item as part of the routine annual process.
Ending: Councilors asked follow-up questions about how funds will be allocated across parks, youth programming, and police-equipment purchases; staff suggested speaking with department personnel for site-level details and said additional information will be provided as purchases are planned.
